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Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-Wash.)
After the House passed Paul Ryan's far-right budget plan, the blueprint was sent to the Senate, where it obviously had no chance of success. Indeed, for the last two weeks, plenty of Republicans in the upper chamber publicly said they saw no point in even bothering with it.
Of course, their concern was not about wasting time, but rather, being forced to vote up or down on a proposal that ends Medicare, slashes social investments, and gives millionaires another massive tax break. It's why, when the Ryan plan reached the Senate floor last night, it wasn't Republicans championing their own party's vision, it was Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-Wash.) demanding her colleagues go on the record, either supporting or opposing the House plan.
In the end, it wasn't close -- the Ryan budget failed in the Senate on a 40-59 vote.
GOP Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Dean Heller (Nev.), Mike Lee (Utah), Rand Paul (Ky.) and Ted Cruz (Texas) voted with Democrats against Ryan's plan. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), a prospective 2016 GOP presidential nominee, voted for Ryan's budget.
"Enough is enough. Republicans received a vote on their extreme proposal; now that it has failed once more, it's time for Republicans to work with Democrats to enact a budget that reflects our values of fairness and opportunity for all," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said after the vote.
For Democrats, either outcome was a victory. If Senate Republicans voted for the House GOP budget en masse, Dems would use it against them in the 2014 midterms and cite this as an example of widespread radicalism within the party. If Senate Republicans balked, Dems would be able to boast that Paul Ryan's vision is so far from the mainstream, it generated bipartisan opposition in both chambers of Congress.
Murray seemed to enjoy twisting the knife a little, almost mocking her GOP colleagues: "There seemed to be some resistance among my Republican colleagues in bringing up the House Republican budget for a vote. And it's pretty easy to see why that is. The House Republican approach has been thoroughly reviewed and just as thoroughly rejected by the American people."
To provide a little more context, I should also note that, in recent weeks, competing budget plans have been released by House Republicans, Senate Democrats, House Democrats, the Republican Study Committee, and the Congressional Progressive Caucus. The only major caucus not to release its own budget plan? Senate Republicans.
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For Democrats, either outcome was a victory. If Senate Republicans voted for the House GOP budget en masse, Dems would use it against them in the 2014 midterms and cite this as an example of widespread radicalism within the party. If Senate Republicans balked, Dems would be able to boast that Paul Ryan's vision is so far from the mainstream, it generated bipartisan opposition in both chambers of Congress.
In this sense, they got the best of both worlds.
Watch how quickly the American people will forget about this come election day.
If the dems had a spine, they would still use this crap of teapubs wanting to give the wealthy tax breaks and slashing everything for average Americans in 2014 AND 2016.
That's a big "if," Phenner. Let's hope the Dem strategists keep focusing on the Ryan budget. It's a winner for the Democratic candidates.
A momentary victory for the Democrats. Stay tuned to see how Harry Reid F*cks it up.
(As others have said here, Patty for Leader!)
Cracks in GOP solidarity? Rand Paul voted no? 2016 presidential run? Run Forrest Run.
But even this wont stop Ryan from continuing to push his radical budget which has been repeatedly rejected
Repeatedly, American People say no more: "gives millionaires another massive tax break."
The GOP are not hearing us. What do we have to do to get their attention?
Turn Florida solid blue, Texas and Arizona at least purple.
Once they lose their ability to throw tantrums by either passing symbolic bills or filibustering motions to adjourn, will they turn to some other form of poo flinging?
"What do we have to do to get their attention?"
Take control of the House and hold the Senate in 2014. If that happens, Republicans can hold their little sideshow without there being any impact on the legislative process.
But where oh where is the President's budget.
Oh wait, what do you mean he doesn't do budgets??
The islamofacistcommunistsocialistdictator doesn't have absolute power?
I am just waiting patiently for the trolls
Exactly. The House hands the Senate garbage and when the Senate doesn't pass it, the Republicans blame the President for lack of a budget and Fox dispenses this horrific lie to the nation.
Great racket the right has going...
Hey Ryan - you and your unjust ideas were rejected in the most recent national election!
Don't let the screen door hit you on your way out! -Kevo
So what? He won the one that really counted: the people of his district returned him to the House to carry on the Holy War!
Paul? Cruz (a/k/a "Ted the Hun")? They didn't "vote with Democrats." They probably found the budget TOO liberal. They wanted to cut more, to hurt "the 47%" more deeply. Screw them.
The best part of all this is that Ryan should lose his undeserved MSM halo as a budget wonk.
Don't be too hard on Ryan. He just hasn't had time to do all the math yet.
Problem is his budget defies math and relies on magical thinking.
Don't worry, outside of MSNBC I doubt last night's vote even registers with the mainstream media. Ryan's undeserved halo is still shining with the punditariate and the Washington Press Corpse.
Press corpse, that fits really well.
...and every economist that owns a calculator.
So why did the Junior Nutjobs from Texas and Kentucky vote against it?
They want to be elected President, and voting for Ryan's anti-social security budget could be used against them in the court of national public opinion.
Yeah, but simply being who they are will surely be used against them in the court of national public opinion, so I can't see how this is any different.
I suspect the Ryan Budget simply doesn't do enough economic damage for these two whack-a-doodles, and their principles (sic) wouldn't allow them to vote for something that didn't cause enough pain for the 99%.
Hmmm, maybe they can read the handwriting on the wall? Or, they stuck their respective fingers in the wind and saw which way it's blowing?
Ok, I'm probably giving them way too much credit. It's a mystery.
Ryan will try again, you can be sure.
The "warmed over mash" called the Ryan Budget never had a chance because either way the GOTP look bad voting on it. The real issue is that the GOTP have done an excellent job courting, wining & dining the crazy and now realize that they just can't abandon those craza's or they will face their rath either thru a primary challenge or smearing by Limburger - either way they're not trying to deal with it. Hopefully the GOTP will hurry up and implode, and then WE can start with a more civilized group that understands compromise and working for the best interests of the nation overall need not be mutually exclusive.
At this point the country may do better with only one major party.
the ryan budget supposedly did not balance the budget for 10 years. thats not even a valid proposal. the gop acts just like the businesses of today. they hire you and say, when you retire we will give you health care, dental care, and a good pension. then about 2 or 3 years away from retirement the company declares bankrupcy and says sorry we are broke and we are moving everyones jobs to china. thats exactly how the gop thinks. i do not understand how any retired person could even think about voting for any republican candidate. all they want to do is take away our pensions and healthcare that we payed for over the last 40 or more years. just like the owners and ceos of the useless businesses. but i do have one piece of advice. when the load is heavy, we all need to pull together!
My GOP Freshman Congressman is spending time demanding to know why there is a BULLET shortage. My God: in the scheme of things, this is worse than malfeasance.
How messed up did the Ryan plan have to be that Ted Cruz voted against it?
So, once again no budget will be passed. This is becoming the norm. No annual budgets, just "continuing" resolutions and other stopgap moves.
Terms that will be heard on a regular basis:
- Continuing resolution
- Kicking the can down the road
- Fiscal cliff (at least 3 or 4 times a year)
- Manufactured crisis
- Debt Ceiling (at least 3 or 4 times a year)
- "Play well to their base" and/or "Can use it against them next election cycle" (Basically taking a position on a issue mostly for political reasons even if it may not agree with the person's personal view)
"It wasn't close -- the Ryan budget failed in the Senate on a 40-59 vote."
Wasn't even close? This piece of shhit that destroys the nation built since FDR got 40 FU KING VOTES! So is Steve Benen yet another participating in the normalization of Republican radicalization and can't get his head out of the Republican rabbit hole?
Democrats will reject a budget if Jesus wrote it. Budget, Cuts and less of anything is a profanity to a progressive.
Rushbo trying out new talking points for Monday?