The Senate on Wednesday rejected every single budget being offered this year, leaving the chamber — and therefore the federal government — without a plan to address Medicare, Social Security and the other major entitlement programs that are driving deficits and debt.
In repeated votes, Democrats who control the chamber defeated four Republican proposals, including a plan that passed the House in March. The entire Senate also unanimously rejected President Obama’s 2013 budget, voting 99-0 against it, following a 414-0 vote against it in the House earlier this year.
“A stunning development for the president of the United States in his fourth year in office,” said Sen. Jeff Sessions, Alabama Republican.
Congress is required by law to pass a budget by April 15, then write the annual spending and tax laws to carry out the budget’s targets.
But for the third straight year, Democrats didn’t offer a plan of their own in the Senate. The last time it did pass one was in 2009, when Democrats controlled all the levers and wrote the measure that paved the way for them to pass Mr. Obama’s health care law.
http://p.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/may/16/democrat-led-senate-votes-down-4-gop-budgets-for-1/
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