House Republicans release 2018 budget blueprint, which would slash social programs

— -- House Republicans are proposing a $4 trillion budget for 2018 that includes deep cuts to social programs such as Medicaid and food stamps, which they say have ballooned to unsustainable levels.

The bill also calls for a fundamental reshaping of Medicare over the next decade by introducing a voucher system to rework and shrink costs as the country's population ages.

The House Budget Committee released a blueprint of its budget resolution today and plans to debate the bill and any amendments to it on Wednesday.

The overall deficit reduction in the Republican draft is based on a 2.6 percent economic growth rate in the country over the next decade, according to the plan summaries. That's more optimistic than the 1.9 percent the Congressional Budget Office estimated.

Also, the resolution projects savings based on an assumption that Congress will pass the American Health Care Act, the House version of Republicans' repeal-and-replace health care bill.

The House committee says its budget commits significant resources to "border construction." The blueprint calls for $622 billion in defense spending — more than the White House proposed — and $511 billion in nondefense discretionary spending in 2018.

Budget resolutions are nonbinding. It is possible lawmakers will appropriate spending at different levels even if they pass a resolution resembling this plan. Conservatives in the House say they want deeper cuts.