Andrew Stiles at Washington Free Beacon reports that, despite Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad's promise that the Senate would actually draft a budget and despite the fact that "the chairman’s staff had been coordinating with staffers in preparation for a full markup session complete with multiple votes on amendments," Conrad has now announced that he will not be drafting a budget prior to the 2012 election.

Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions, the senior Republican on the Budget Committee, says it all:  

“Chairman Conrad’s stunning announcement, forced on him by his party, is a defining moment in 2012 and a national embarrassment for a Senate majority that is unable to meet the great challenge of our time.”

All I can say is that with leaders like Harry Reid and his ilk we are doomed. Nero is their role model. We stand at the edge of the abyss and they do nothing. I feel outraged and nauseated. 

Comments:


Tom Lindholtz
Joined
May '10
Tom Lindholtz

"...Unable to meet the great challenge of our time"? Drafting a budget is the bare minimum level of competency for a congressman of either house. It is the one thing needful that they must do. A good budget, a serious budget, a budget that charts a serious path into a future with current fiscal issues resolved; yeah, that might be a challenge. But they haven't even done a pro forma attempt at making present spending rational.

PJS
Joined
May '10
PJS

Gee, the year will be almost over, and they still won't have a suggested budget.  How unexpected.

tabula rasa
Joined
Jun '10
tabula rasa
Tom Lindholtz: "...Unable to meet the great challenge of our time"? Drafting a budget is the bare minimum level of competency for a congressman of either house. It is the one thing needful that they must do. A good budget, a serious budget, a budget that charts a serious path into a future with current fiscal issues resolved; yeah, that might be a challenge. But they haven't even done a pro forma attempt at making present spending rational. · 27 minutes ago

I spent a long career in a big corporation--the entities that Obama loves to despise (except for the crony corporations).  It is unimaginable that any significant sized corporation or other business would even consider operating without a budget. What a bunch of hacks.

flownover
Joined
Aug '10
flownover

Tabula,That Harry Reid is mormon should provide all the proof the country needs that the Church hierarchy has no control whatsoever over their members that are in office. Romney can always use Reid's radical positions of the church's laissez-faire attitude or frustration.

tabula rasa
Joined
Jun '10
tabula rasa
flownover: Tabula,That Harry Reid is mormon should provide all the proof the country needs that the Church hierarchy has no control whatsoever over their members that are in office. Romney can always use Reid's radical positions of the church's laissez-faire attitude or frustration. · 20 minutes ago

True. I have no clue what's in Reid's heart, but he certainly doesn't follow Mormon budgeting practice. The church believes in each unit having and following a budget.

Edited on April 18, 2012 at 3:50am
BlueAnt
Joined
Aug '10
BlueAnt
tabula rasa I spent a long career in a big corporation--the entities that Obama loves to despise (except for the crony corporations).  It is unimaginable that any significant sized corporation or other business would even consider operating without a budget. What a bunch of hacks.

If the Senators think arguing about the US budget is hard, when it's so complex they can hide goodies on every line item, they should see the office politics that goes into a $3 billion corporate IT budget.  Liberals vs conservatives is nothing compared to geeks vs executives.

If there was a clause in the Constitution that provided for automatic impeachment in the face of gross incompetence, these fools would have tripped it by now.

DocJay
Joined
Jul '11
DocJay

TR, Harry Reid follows a lot less of Mormon teaching than that. A career criminal who will pass away without ever being held accountable. Heck, probably a bunch of GOP career criminals will say nice things about him when he's gone. He's the Murtha of the west except those who stand in Reid's way have their lives ruined.

tabula rasa
Joined
Jun '10
tabula rasa
DocJay: TR, Harry Reid follows a lot less of Mormon teaching than that. A career criminal who will pass away without ever being held accountable. Heck, probably a bunch of GOP career criminals will say nice things about him when he's gone. He's the Murtha of the west except those who stand in Reid's way have their lives ruined. · 8 minutes ago

Can't argue with anything you say. He looks and acts like a cadaver.

jeffp
Joined
Mar '11
jeffp

So has it ever happened before in the history of the Republic that one house of Congress has neglected to adopt a budget for three years running? I'm seriously curious.

Paul Erickson
Joined
May '11
Paul Erickson
jeffp: So has it ever happened before in the history of the Republic that one house of Congress has neglected to adopt a budget for three years running? I'm seriously curious. · 14 minutes ago

Jeff, I have no idea.  This looks like a good question to post in the "Intel" section above.

Misthiocracy
Joined
Aug '10
Misthiocracy

I'm confused about the US federal budget process.

Wikipedia claims that Budget 2010, Budget 2011, and Budget 2012 were all "passed".

http://tinyurl.com/3wonuej

Can somebody please explain to an ignorant Canuckistani how these budgets can be "passed" if the Senate didn't pass them?

Edited on April 19, 2012 at 12:29am
Redneck Desi
Joined
Apr '12
Redneck Desi

I simply do not understand how the democratic leadership thinks this is good politics

Paul A. Rahe

Romney should throw a monkey wrench into Obama's plans by running advertisements now attacking "the do-nothing Democratic Senate."

Think about it. It could start with a series of vignettes: Unemployment during the last three years, the Deficit in the last three years . . . You can imagine the rest.

Then, an attack on the do-nothing Democratic Senate.

Then, Romney. There is only one group of people in this country who really ought to be unemployed: the Democrats in the Senate who have failed for three years running even to propose a budget, and the President of the United States who has for three years running failed to propose one that could attract even Democratic support.

Do the Romney people have the wit to seize on this? It would get the Dems on the run.


Joined
Mar '12
Scarlet Pimpernel

And the RNCC should publish charts of economic growth since January, 1995, with economic growth v. party control of Congress listed. Also works for who controls the Senate, but it's a slightly different story.

Severely Ltd.
Joined
Oct '10
Severely Ltd.

“Comrade Chairman’s stunning announcement, forced on him by the party...”

I came away with this on first scanning the post, but not a bad reading of it.

Fake John Galt
Joined
Jul '11
Fake John Galt

This is easy to fix. Just shut off the money and they will come around.


Joined
Jan '12
Prouddad

This would be a great campaign picture to use against the "do-nothing Democratic" Senate in the fall. I tried to imbed the picture only, but my posting skills are rudimentary. http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/democrats-skip-senate-budget-meeting_640414.html

wilber forge
Joined
Oct '10
wilber forge

It is unlikely the Plutocracy will pass anything like a true budget. There is simply too much at stake to do so. Regardless of any wishfull thinking on our part, the elected are fearfull of pressing anything close to a Reset Button. Makes no difference who takes the big chair.

BlueAnt
Joined
Aug '10
BlueAnt
Fake John Galt: This is easy to fix. Just shut off the money and they will come around.

Indeed.  Make Senators' paychecks directly contingent on having a budget in place.  No budget (or operating on emergency authorization), no paychecks, period.

I suppose some "innocent" Senators might get caught with overdue bills due to the other party's fecklessness.  But I find myself strangely untroubled by their plight.

DocJay
Joined
Jul '11
DocJay

Well Blue Ant, they do have other sources of income but symbolically I love it.


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