Democrats scramble to avoid budget votes in the senate

Yuval Levin:
Politico reports today that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is so intent on having Democrats avoid stating their fiscal plans and principles that he asked the Senate parliamentarian (whom he appointed) to rule that last year’s Budget Control Act prohibits the Senate from taking up a budget resolution this year. The parliamentarian, to her credit, refused to do so, since the BCA says no such thing. Since Senate Democrats have not actually produced a budget of their own, they may now be forced to vote on budget proposals from various Republican senators (Rand Paul and Pat Toomey have both proposed budgets so far), to vote on the Ryan budget passed by the House last month, and — most difficult of all for the Democrats — to vote on the Obama budget. As Politico puts it:
a version of President Barack Obama’s own $3.6 trillion budget proposal, which the House unanimously rejected last week, also could come to the Senate floor, ensuring an embarrassing replay of last year when not a single senator voted for the president’s budget.
... 
The President's press secretary also avoided answering questions about the lack of a budget and why the President has not insisted on a vote.  This is an issue that should haunt Democrats in the coming election.  they do not seem to have an explanation for their failure.

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