Eleven Democrats joined every Republican to vote against Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s Budget Control Act (H.R. 2693) today (not surprisingly, no Virginia Democrat thought rationally).
Reid, who indicated this wouldn’t move forward until late tonight, apparently expedited the cloture vote, the bill passed, and was sent to the House where, unlike the Senate who has tabled “Cut, Cap, and Balance” and the Boehner Budget, it actually was heard and voted upon. The House picked up the Reid plan and introduced it in what is effectively a political stunt to show Senator Reid his bill will fail. In this case, a vote that clearly rejected Reid’s gimmicky plan. Reid will still ask for cloture late Saturday/early Sunday, with Republican Senators Matt Brown, Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, and Lisa Murkowski still on the fence regarding their vote.
Where this leads us is anybody’s guess, but it could mean that the Boehner bill will be acted upon in the Senate.
There could also be something coming from the Gang of Six. According to Politico:
Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), also one of the six, moved among sympathetic Republicans on the Senate floor, and Reid took care to pay heed to the Gang’s work, and this could yet be an avenue to bring over Republicans.
“I’m a total Gang of Six guy,” Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.). “So if there’s any way that could be brought forward, I’m for it.”
Regardless of the way-ahead, perhaps the best response as to why conservatives are behaving in the way they are comes from Rep. Scott Rigell:
“At times it is difficult to discern which vote – a “yes” or “no” – would serve the best interest of our country. That was not the case with the two bills recently sent to the House by Senator Reid and Speaker Boehner to address the raising of the debt ceiling. There is a critical distinction between them which led me to vote for the Boehner plan and against the Reid plan: using a claim that was deceptive and deliberately misleading – a practice that is common in the rancid culture of D.C. – the Reid plan counts more than $1 trillion in “savings” from the winding down of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Those expenditures are not written into law, have never been requested, and no one expects, not even Senator Reid, for them to be spent. The truth is that the “war savings” he so boldly claims are fictitious and the Senator does a disservice to his party and the nation by representing the $1 trillion as a bold step in addressing our country’s spending crisis.
On the remaining part of Senator Reid’s plan, the Congressional Budget Office estimates it reduces spending by approximately $927 billion over 10 years. Fair enough. Yet when set next to the increase in the debt limit of $2.4 trillion, every American can see the problem in the Reid plan. It falls far short of what is needed to arrest the catastrophic trajectory of our nation’s finances. By looking at Senator Reid’s proposal one has to wonder if he is even aware that America is more than $14 trillion dollars in debt. So it is true that Senator Reid is leading … he is leading America into bankruptcy.
In clear contrast, I am proud of the two bills I have voted for which would allow America to pay its bills and reduce spending. “Cut, Cap and Balance” is the right plan for America and it remains my preferred path for our nation. The Budget Control Act of 2011, which passed the House yesterday, is a good path as well. Both called for a Balanced Budget Amendment to be sent to the states after being passed by the House and Senate.
While passage of a Balanced Budget Amendment enjoys strong support among the American people, Senator Reid and President Obama dismiss it. Why? I am convinced they oppose it because it would rein in their ability to make even more promises that cannot be kept to an ever increasing number of people. In short, it would stop them from spending more money that we do not have.
Now is the time, in this Congress, in this year, to do what is right. Now is the time to take the difficult but necessary steps to restore America to fiscal health, and free up the greatest job producing engine the world has ever known – the American entrepreneur.”
Stay tuned. Things clearly are moving quickly as we approach the Aug. 2 deadline.
Update: Looks like the president is getting a bit more serious and summoned Reid and Pelosi to the White House for a meeting.
