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House Republican Conference Vice-Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Rep. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), a House Budget Committee member and former Wyoming state treasurer, held a blogger's call today on President Obama's $3.55 trillion budget proposal. The two Republicans criticized the budget's size, scope, and cost to the taxpayer.

Lummis warned that while people may be "fatigued and overloaded" by the huge numbers thrown around in discussing the president's spending plans, "the bill has not yet arrived for the American people." But "the bill is coming in the form of President Obama's budget." She catalogued the tax increases contained therein, including higher rates on upper-income earners -- "putting a cap on the American dream" at $250,000 for a household and $200,000 for an individual -- as well as cap and trade, the closing of charitable deductions and the elimination of deductions for tangile drilling costs."

Lummis argued that the policies would hit people in "the middle of the country" in "fly-over state[s]" like Wyoming particularly hard, including "mom and pop" small businesses. She cited a $600 billion price tag for "cap and tax" that would hit "anyone who turns on a light bulb" or uses energy. Lummis also talked about the plan to require private insurance carriers to pay for the treatment of military veterans rather than the VA, a part of the budget she has introduced legislation to deal with. Veterans' groups have already weighed in against this provision.