Senate Democrats Wary of Budget Fights

Roll Call reports:

Senate Democrats, wary of losing control of the chamber and weary from a year of battle, appear apprehensive about taking another round of show votes on Republican budgets doomed to fail.

It’s a far cry from last year when both Democrats and Republicans were chomping at the bit to vote on the budget resolution crafted by House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and approved by the GOP-controlled lower chamber. But this year, with 24 of the 33 seats in cycle currently held by Senators who caucus with Democrats, the party seems annoyed by the prospects of taking political votes on any terms but their own.

Late last month, Democrats futilely attempted to secure a ruling from the Senate parliamentarian to keep budgets from receiving votes on the floor by asking whether they could use last summer’s Budget Control Act to block further GOP action. The bungled strategic move to get the ruling, which many Democratic aides said they never thought would go in their favor, reveals more about the party’s general aversion to making vulnerable, in-cycle Members take tough political votes than anything else.

Few, if any, Democrats publicly support the Ryan budget, but not passing their own budget has left them open to sustained Republican attacks over their unwillingness to set spending priorities for the next year.

Profiles in courage!