Obama Unveils $3 Trillion Deficit Reduction Plan

In what is likely to instigate an ideological showdown that will stretch through this year and next, President Barack Obama fervently advocated for a $3 trillion deficit reduction plan Monday that seeks $1 in new revenues for every $2 in cuts.

The plan equates to roughly $1.5 trillion in taxes, most of it on wealthy Americans - a proposal that has incited accusations of "class warfare" by many Republican members of Congress. However, most of the new revenue will come from an overhaul of U.S. tax code, and $800 billion will stem from the expiration of Bush tax cuts on upper-income households.

The plan is in large part influenced by calls from billionaire investor Warren Buffet, who has argued that no individual earning more than $1 million per year should be taxed at a lower rate than middle-income households.

"It is wrong that in the United States of America a teacher or a nurse or a construction worker who earns $50,000 should pay higher tax rates than somebody pulling in $50 million," the president said at a White House press conference Monday, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Republican leaders quickly responded to the measure, referring to it as political posturing with little chance of passing through Congress.