The Hill News

A senior House Democrat is previewing his party’s arguments against planned GOP attempts to slash federal spending and kill programs when Republicans take control of the chamber next year.

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) â€" a top ally of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) â€" said Democrats favor seeking “places where we can make government more efficient, and we will continue to work with our colleagues to do that.”

But Van Hollen â€" who will be ranking Democrat on the Budget Committee â€" said on Bloomberg’s “Political Capital with Al Hunt” that GOP plans to cut $100 billion in spending go too far. House Speaker-elect John Boehner (R-Ohio) is vowing to cut federal spending back to 2008 levels. 

“If they’re talking about just slashing our investments in things like education, or our national investments in trying to find cures to cancer, which benefit every American family, then I think we’re going to have a real battle o! ver priorities, especially since, you know, they pushed for this recent legislation that was passed in the Congress on the tax bill that provided a $23 billion tax break to 6,600 of the wealthiest estates of the year,” Van Hollen said on the program airing this weekend.

“You cannot be serious about deficit reduction and make that kind of decision. It just doesn’t equate,” he said. Van Hollen also said the proposed GOP cuts don’t make sense when the economy is weak.