-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- President Obama 's proposed spending freeze could help him recapture the favor of centrist voters , but critics blast the move as nothing more than political posturing . The president is expected to call for a partial , three-year freeze on discretionary spending in his State of the Union address Wednesday , according to two senior administration officials . The cuts , which Obama will say would save $ 250 billion , would not apply to national security spending and would not affect major entitlement programs like Medicare and Social Security . The proposal comes as the president 's poll numbers dip and concerns about the economy and the federal deficit flare . It also comes after a shocking election loss for Democrats in Massachusetts , which many have interpreted as an expression of voter frustration with the way Washington is handling the economy . `` I applaud -LSB- Obama -RSB- for attempting to have some fiscal restraint , '' Republican strategist Ed Rollins said . `` But at the end of the day , he 's got to make sure the Democrats are disciplined and they do n't have big spending programs alongside of this . '' Under Obama 's plan , all federal discretionary spending would be frozen at its current level of $ 447 billion per year . Individual federal agencies would have the power to give some programs increases , while cutting money elsewhere . Both chambers of Congress would have to approve the freeze when they take up the president 's budget for fiscal year 2011 , which starts in October . Obama will send his budget plan to Congress after the State of the Union . Jeffrey Sachs , an economist and director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University , said Obama 's move does n't make much sense , following a year of unprecedented government spending and a $ 787 billion stimulus package . `` A little bit of disarray , it seems . Last year , just spend , throw everything into a stimulus package ... and then this year , just across-the-board freeze . Frankly , the government has to make better choices and better plans than throwing things into a big pot in one year and then freezing across the board the next year , '' he said . Obama dismissed the idea of an across-the-board spending freeze during a presidential debate in October 2008 . `` It sounds good . It 's proposed periodically . It does n't happen , '' then-candidate Obama said . `` In fact , an across-the-board spending freeze is a hatchet , and we do need a scalpel because there are some programs that do n't work at all . There are some that are underfunded . I want to make sure we 're focused on the programs that work . '' Republican reaction to Obama 's proposal was split , with some senior GOP aides saying it is something they could support , and others saying it did not go nearly far enough . `` Given Washington Democrats ' unprecedented spending binge , this is like announcing you 're going on a diet after winning a pie-eating contest , '' said Michael Steel , a spokesman for House Minority Leader John Boehner , R-Ohio . `` Will the budget still double the debt over five years and triple it over 10 ? That 's the bottom line . '' The senior administration officials acknowledged that discretionary spending is only about one-sixth of the entire federal budget , but said the White House believes that cuts need to start somewhere . The move is Obama 's latest step down a path to a more populist message , aimed at reassuring Americans nervous about the slow pace of the economic recovery . The president on Monday proposed nearly doubling the child care tax credit for middle-class families . Obama is expected to talk about efforts to create more jobs and spur the economy in his speech Wednesday . iReport : Deliver your State of the Union address The White House has put a greater emphasis on the economy in the days since Democrats lost their 60-seat supermajority in the Senate . Republican Scott Brown defeated Democrat Martha Coakley in a special election last week to serve the remainder of the late Ted Kennedy 's Senate term . Brown capitalized on voter frustrations and captured the independent vote in Massachusetts , a Democratic stronghold . `` I think that is a wake-up call for everybody in this town , '' White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said a day after the election . Obama 's proposal will likely set the stage for a fight with some liberals , but polls suggest it might not be a bad thing for the president to occasionally break ranks . A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released Monday indicates that seven in 10 Americans think that the Democrats ' loss of their 60-seat supermajority in the Senate is a positive step for the country . Observers note it will also put Republicans in a position where they can show if they are willing to meet the president halfway . Democratic strategist James Carville said Tuesday that Obama needs to take control of the narrative in order to get back on track . `` Until this administration stands up and says ` This is what we will face , and this is what we did , and this is our strategy ' -- these things are going to continue to happen , '' he said . CNN 's Dana Bash and Ed Henry contributed to this report .