OBAMA UNVEILS HIS BUDGET: 'I Hope Republicans Will Demonstrate They're Really As Serious As They Claim'

APPresident Barack Obama unveiled his fiscal-year 2014 budget at a press conference in the Rose Garden Wednesday morning, a document he called a "a fiscally-responsible blueprint for middle class jobs and growth."

During his press conference, Obama challenged Republicans to meet him on compromise on the budget, saying he's "met them halfway."

"I hope they will demonstrate that they are really as serious as they claim to be on the debt and deficit," Obama said.

Prior to his statement Wednesday morning, plenty of details had already emerged about the budget, which serves as an important mark in ongoing budget talks with Congressional Republicans.

It has also already taken fire from both the left and right.

Liberals, in particular, are infuriated by a proposal to cut Social Security benefits through a chained CPI, which recalculates the growth of benefits by using an inflation index that doesn't go up as quickly.

Obama's budget also replaces the cuts of the sequester, which began kicking in March 1. Obama said that the cuts are "already hurting the economy."

House Speaker John Boehner, meanwhile, credited Obama with "incremental" progress on entitlement reform. But he said there will be no new tax hikes included in a broad budget deal.

"I would hope that he would not hold hostage these modest reforms for his demand for bigger tax hikes," Boehner said in a statement. "Listen, why don’t we do what we can agree to do? Why don’t we find the common ground that we do have and move on that?"