Posted on 04/20/2012 7:07:17 AM PDT by Jerome Hudson
American families make and live by a budget. But not the Congress.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
“The effective cancellation of this mark-up puts in crystal focus that the Senate’s Democrat leadership is determined to go to November without ever bringing a budget to the floor… They have proven themselves unable to meet the defining challenge of our time.
But if Republicans are honored with a Senate majority next year, we will conduct a real mark-up and we will pass an honest budget. And it will change the debt course of America.”
A "mark-up" is a process wherein a congressional committee debates on voting amendments while adding and removing language to a provision. Republicans on Capitol Hill believe Sen. Reid made his last-minute decision to stop the budgetary mark-up because the process would have forced Senate Democrats in tight races to make difficult political choices that might undermine their chances at reelection.
"The decision to kill the mark-up came as a total surprise," said one Budget Committee staffer in an interview with Big Government. "Sen. Sessions was literally in his office working on amendments when he saw Chairman Conrad on TV announcing that the process would no longer go forward."
Despite Chairman Kent Conrad's (D-ND) contention that he modeled the Democrat's plan after the Bowles-Simpson plan, a closer look at the Senate Democrats' plan may reveal why Sen. Reid stopped it from proceeding, as the plan contained huge tax increases with no net cut in spending. Specifically, the Democrats' plan included: $2.6 trillion in tax hikes Spending that would grow at twice the rate of inflation Debt increases by more than $8 trillion that would make the U.S. total debt $23 trillion by the end of 2022 Mandatory spending growth at 3 times the rate of inflation
Sen. Sessions blasted Senate Democrats for playing politics with the nation's purse at a time when the United States is facing an unprecedented $15+ trillion debt.
It is clear that, in addition to being unable and unwilling to publicly defend a plan of any kind, Senate Democrats also did not want to conduct a mark-up because they would have been compelled to cast votes on and defend the president’s fiscally ruinous health law that they supported, as well as the widespread taxpayer abuse and waste exemplified by the GSA. As for Chairman Conrad’s plan, it is easy to understand why Senate Democrats don’t want to vote on it, even in committee: it contains $2.6 trillion in tax increases ($600 billion more than the president’s plan), it contains not one penny of spending cuts, and it produces $8.2 trillion in new gross debt. It is one more-tax-and-spend plan, like the president’s budget. Never in recent memory has a majority party in Washington been more inadequate to meet the great challenge of our time than Senate Democrats now leading this chamber.”
With Republicans seeking to regain control of the U.S. Senate, the long timeline of budgetary inaction by Senate Democrats may now hold electoral consequences, as Sen. Reid's last-minute maneuverings can only be seen as cynical Machiavellian politics of the most irresponsible kind.
Budgets are racist.
Can we have him arrested for contempt of Congress? This guy needs to go if he WON’T DO HIS DAMN JOB...
More ammo for the GOP to use against these a$$ wipes and OFudgePackula.
Harry Reid also claims that people (particularly seniors) LIKE receiving junk mail. This man is unbelievably ignorant (about many things).
a Constitutional Amendment to....umm, clarify their rules and process is increasingly in order.
Surely a serious Presidential candidate could knock this one out of the park. waiting ... waiting ... waiting ...
I need two facts:
1.) What were the R/D/I vote totals?
2.) Which way did Senator Son-of-a-Mitch McConnell (R-Ky), Senate Minority Leader vote?
Budgets?
Congress don’t need no stinkin’ budgets!
Nevada must be so proud.
Add this to the Healthcare shoot down come June you will have the biggest political joke on the American people in US HISTORY! Obama, Reid and Pelosi.
Total surprise?
After three years this is a surprise?
It is clear they never intended to ever have a budget, just continuing resolutions and raise the debt “limit.” Never, as in from the time bammy set foot in the White House.
And planning something prior to the actual event or act, to break the law, is... what again?
Oh yeah, they call that one “criminal conspiracy.”
.
In regards to the poster asking for some testicular fortitude from our side, just look at our leadership.
Mark Levin is right, it is time for McConnell to go at our majority leader.
Let us hope the challengers against Lugar and Hatch really pull this off, it is sad we have more inactive fossils in the Senate than over at the Smitssonian, at least the kids want to go see them in the museum....
How about:
“No budget - no pay”
and make it retroactive !
I am looking forward to the day when this contemptuous b@stard is sent home to paw through his junk mail for the rest of his miserable life.
That sort of stuff happens when you live next to California,stink spreads.
I would like to see Reid’s pay stopped and 1,086 days of it rescinded (including the value of all benefits).
Any other link besides Breitbart? It’s good enough for me, but any liberal would dismiss the entire story based on the source.
I was thinking the same thing. Surely there’s a prosecutor somewhere who will have him indicted on something. Remember, you can indict a ham sandwich. And the rules are if one is indicted, one must step down until the case is adjudicated or charges dropped.
Oh, what am I thinking. We would have to have an opposition party to pull off something like this. Silly me.
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