Yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) told reporters on a conference call that he would be holding a Senate vote on House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) budget. Of course, the Democrat-controlled Senate still has not offered or voted on its own budget proposal.

In a statement today, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell announced that the Senate will also vote on the budget President Obama submitted in February at the same time as the vote on the Ryan budget. Leader McConnell said, “I understand that the Majority Leader would like to have a vote on the House-passed Ryan budget and we will. . . . But we’ll have a vote on the President’s budget at the same time. Since there is no Democrat budget in the Senate, we’ll give our colleagues an opportunity to stand with the President in failing to address the problems facing our nation while calling for trillions in new spending, massive new debt and higher taxes on American energy, families and small businesses across the country.”

So will Senate Democrats vote for President Obama’s budget, despite its glaring deficiencies?

Certainly, many Democrats have been openly critical of a budget The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank called “a remarkably weak and timid document.” At a Senate Budget Committee hearing, chairman Kent Conrad (D-ND) said, “I believe history will condemn us all if we don’t do substantially more . . . than is in this budget. I believe it fundamentally puts at risk the economic security of the country. And I believe that. I believe the evidence is quite strong that the risks that are being run are unacceptable risks.” Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) said, “What we have is a budget proposal from the President designed to get our attention, but given our fiscal challenges, it does not go far enough. This is not what the country needs or expects.” Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) said, “This budget proposal raises a lot of questions about where the priorities of this administration are.” And Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) said, “[I]t is clear from the numbers that this budget alone does not address our deficit concerns.”

As Leader McConnell noted in his statement, “Democrats have refused to offer a budget for the second year in a row, failed to protect families from policies that increase the price at the pump, and have yet to offer any serious plan to protect future generations from this administration’s spending spree . . . .” With these budget votes, Americans will have an opportunity to see who is really committed to tacking our fiscal crisis creating an environment to foster job growth, and who is committed to the unsustainable and unaffordable status quo of massive spending and deficits.

Related:

Rasmussen Reports: 67% Say U.S. Society Fair and Decent, 43% Think Obama Agrees

Comments

comments