House Republicans working on the budget have proposed cutting almost $18 billion more in mandatory spending cuts than President Bush requested. The cuts are especially deep in medicaid. They also outlined their plans to provide more for military costs in Iraq and Afghanistan and for fixing the alternative minimum tax, all while setting aside billions of dollars to go towards Bush's tax cuts. Notably, the budget "mark" does not include any caps for discretionary or entitlement program spending. It proposes an overall 2.1 percent discretionary spending increase, however a good chunk of that increase is in areas of defense and homeland security. The House budget blueprint will most likely go to the floor next Wednesday. For more details check out the House Budget Committee web site here.