The budget released this past Thursday would raise taxes beginning in 2011 on Americans making more than $250,000 per year, and use the revenue to fund broad tax cuts, renewable energy projects, student aid, and healthcare reform.

Republican Members of Congress continued to attack the budget plan as both large and unnecessary. "I think it’s terrifying in the policy implications," said Senator Jon Kyl on Fox News Sunday, "as well as mind-boggling in the numbers."

"This is probably the biggest rewrite or transformation of our federal budget since the New Deal," agreed Congressman Paul Ryan.

White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel speaking on CBS' Face the Nation dismissed the criticisms as a "scare tactic."

Emanuel emphasized that the budget would provide a tax cut to 95 percent of families and would not raise taxes for two years. The White House estimates that the economy will begin to recover by 2011.

Emanuel also sought to tie a familiar face to the Republican opposition. "[Rush Limbaugh] is the voice and the intellectual force and energy behind the Republican Party," Emanuel said "He’s asked for President Obama and called for President Obama to fail. That’s his view. And that’s what he has enunciated."

Peter Orszag, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget joined in the budget's defense on ABC's This Week "I just reject the theory," he said "that the only thing that drives economic performance is the marginal tax rate on wealthy Americans and the only way of being pro-market is to funnel billions and billions of dollars of subsidies to corporations."

Over on NBC's Meet The Press, Defense Secretary Robert Gates spoke about the President's plan to reduce troop levels in Iraq to 50,000 by 2010.

The White House has identified savings from drawing down the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in the Administration's plans to reduce the deficit. The President recently said: "by Aug. 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end."

"I think the important thing to point out, though," Gates said, "is that the president has said that that will be a transition force of 35,000 to 50,000, and it’s a way station. We -- as he pointed out, in the absence of any new agreement with the Iraqis we have to be at zero by the end of 2011. So that 50,000 or 35,000 is a way station on the way to zero."

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen agreed that the President's plan to reduce troops was workable and that conditions in Iraq were continuing to improve. As recently as last July, Mullen had been opposed to any troop withdrawals.

"In particular, the military situation as a result the surge has gotten a lot better," he said. "Iraq security forces have improved. And those kinds of things -- all those trends are in the right direction."