He noted that he had not included such a provision in his own budget blueprint.

True, the Republican budget blueprints call for freezing the defense budget at last year's level.

They had not even passed a budget blueprint to guide their spending.

Republicans held that the budget blueprint was the right medicine for an ailing economy.

The final version of the budget blueprint says Congress may spend up to $28 billion on "health insurance for the uninsured" from 2002 to 2011.

But the Senate, in a budget blueprint last month, did not require any cuts at all.

But there was little evidence of a major restructuring in the budget blueprint presented on Friday.

Under a budget blueprint adopted in June, Congress is trying to save $893 billion over seven years.

The budget blueprint would cut projected Medicaid spending by $182 billion, or 19 percent, during seven years.

The House passed a Republican budget blueprint early yesterday by a vote of 211 to 207.