Politics

Democrats Finally Pass a Very Unbalanced Budget

The Democrat majority in the Senate passed the budget in the early hours Saturday morning (50-49) after nearly four years with only continuing resolutions, 1,448 days to be exact.  The iPad didn’t exist the last time the Senate passed a budget.  The budget passed with 48 Democrats voting in favor along with the 2 Independents.  All 45 Republicans voted against the measure plus 4 Democrats.  Senator Lautenberg from NJ did not vote.  The “bipartisanship” was only in opposition to this budget.

The Senate’s budget adds trillions more in debt, raises taxes a trillion dollars, provides more stimulus spending and never brings the budget into balance.  In fact, it still has a projected budget deficit of $566 billion in 2023.  You can read more of those details here, here and here.

One interesting aspect of this vote is the Democrats who voted against this budget.  They were:  Baucus (D-MT), Begich  (D-AK), Hagan (D-NC), and Pryor (D-AR).  It’s hard to imagine that politics were involved in this important vote and perhaps it’s just ironic that all four of these Democrat senators are up for re-election in 2014, all from red states.   Romney won 3 of these states by double-digits, Montana +13, Alaska +14, and Arkansas +23.  In North Carolina, Romney won a majority with nearly 51% of the vote.

If you want a short list of who the Democrat Party believes are the most vulnerable of the 21 seats they have up for election in 2014, this is it.  The Republicans have 14 seats up for re-election in 2014.  Given that off-year elections tend to have lower turnouts, especially among the ‘low information voters’, and barring the absence of Akin and Mourdock-like blunders next year, the Republicans have a fine opportunity for taking control of the Senate.