She added: "This is further evidence that Paterson's unwillingness to accept the science on climate change is leading him to make the wrong choices on spending cuts within his department".
If they are ruling out these extreme cuts for the most disabled and carers, then it is clear they will be hitting the tax credits, and support for children, for millions of working families".
It said that if automatic spending cuts go into force and all the Bush-era tax cuts expire, the nation would slip into recession next year and unemployment would rise to 9.1 percent, from October's rate of 7.9 percent.
And the looming combination of tax increases and spending cuts looks easily large enough to push America back into recession.
Given the huge waste and poor productivity in the public services, there is no a priori reason why these cuts cannot be covered by public spending savings, as Osborne argued.
It booked $1.5bn in savings in the 2013-14 budget from repealing the tax cuts but did not get around to actually changing the legislation.
George Osborne's proposed "cuts" in national insurance contributions will cost about £5.6bn, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
In Britain, the new chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, said on Monday that he would push through £6 billion ($8.65 billion) in spending cuts in an effort to convince skittish markets that the new government led by David Cameron was committed to fiscal restraint.
He announced pay cuts of about 5 percent for civil servants — and 15 percent for government ministers — as well as other measures totaling 15 billion euros.
Prime Minister José Sócrates, a Socialist, will rely on tax increases and cuts in public-sector wages and corporate subsidies.
The poll shows almost two-to-one opposition to the speed of cuts, but that does not mean voters are yet persuaded there is an alternative.
