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Senate Democrats will force a vote on the House-passed budget crafted by Rep. Paul Ryan in order to make a political point.
Democrats noted that Senate Republicans, after praising the Ryan budget, didn’t try to introduce a version of it in the Senate. So they’re going to introduce it themselves.
Continue Reading[h=4]Ryan budget: Break down with Republican strategist[/h]
The House passed the Ryan plan, which tries to balance the budget in the long term by cutting spending, repealing Obamacare, and overhauling Medicare while avoiding any tax increases, Thursday morning on a mostly party-line vote.
“We welcome the contrast with the Ryan budget,” Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said.
Democrats have been been bashing the Ryan budget since it was filed and aren’t showing signs of letting up.
“They just voted to end Medicare over there, you can quibble but Medicare is a card that you take to the doctor, it’s a golden card for the golden years that promises you will get health care,” said Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.). “They replace it with a voucher.”
The Senate began on Wednesday the process of considering its own budget proposal written by Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.). In addition to 50 hours of debate, that process also allows for votes on an unlimited number of amendments on the Senate floor.
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), the top Republican on the Budget Committee, said he anticipates offering a replacement budget as an amendment on the floor, but indicated it might not be identical to Ryan’s.
The Senate is likely to begin the “vote-a-rama” Thursday and possibly Friday, a fast-paced series of votes on amendments attached to the budget. Given the expansiveness of a budget, there is nearly no topic off-limits in the budget process. As a result, both sides are likely to offer amendments in order to force the other side to take politically risky votes.
Boxer argued that the public, in electing President Barack Obama to a second term, voted against the Ryan budget proposal.
“There was an election about that and I thought they got the message,” Boxer said. “They did not get the message.”
