(Creative Commons)

The plan would trim or terminate more than 200 federal programs, with proposed deep cuts to areas including the Environmental Protection Agency, Pell Grants, heating assistance for the poor, the Environmental Protection Agency and community block grants for low-income areas. It would also raise taxes on the wealthy and businesses, which help free up funds for other areas such as education, medical research, energy and transportation.

The Washington Post reports:

Republicans blasted the proposed budget as a bait-and-switch, saying it would not deliver on the administration's pledge to reduce deficits primarily by cutting spending. They also said Obama ignored a plan developed by his own fiscal commission to tackle the biggest drivers of future deficits: popular safety-net programs for the elderly and a tax code that offers more in deductions than it collects in revenue.

"This budget was an opportunity for the president to lead. He punted. It only pretends to do the things people want," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said in a speech on the Senate floor. "This is business as usual at a time when bold, creative solutions are needed. This is not an I-got-the-message budget."

House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said he found Obama's budget request "more than disappointing. I expected more taxes," he said, "but I also expected some serious spending controls or reforms, and we're getting none of it."

Obama said his slow-cutting approach to reducing the budget-deficit is more responsible than the steep cuts Republicans want.

"While it's absolutely essential to live within our means, while we are absolutely committed to working with Democrats and Republicans to find further savings and to look at the whole range of budget issues, we can't sacrifice our future in the process," Obama said. "I know the American people understand why this is so important."

The president has also faced criticism over the budget proposal from his own party

“The budget proposal from President Obama is right from the Republican plan,” Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) said in a statement. “How can we stop the Republican cuts when the president has one-upped them? As the president, he should be the last line of defense for the most vulnerable Americans, instead of the first one to cut.”

Politico reports: "Yet for all the progressive hand-wringing, the outrage was widely tempered by the fact that Republicans — who detailed their budget plan for the current fiscal year only days ago — would, in the view of liberals, inflict much more damage to their cherished priorities."

Obama’s budget “doesn’t reflect the choices progressives would make, but it is a much more sensible set of choices about our future than Republicans would be making,” said Robert Borosage, co-director of the liberal Campaign for America’s Future.