Another Budget Deadline Comes and Goes Under Democrats

Democrats have gone a record three years in a row with no budget. They last passed a budget in 2009 so that they could pass the President’s health care law through reconciliation.

April 15th is the Legal Deadline for Passing a Final Budget Resolution

• Sadly, Congress has failed to pass a final budget resolution by the legal deadline three times since Democrats won the majority in 2007 (for fiscal years 2011, 2012, and 2013).

• In addition to not bringing up their own proposal for a vote, Democrats in the Senate have wanted to avoid discussing the budget so much that last year they rejected four opportunities to move to budget resolutions (budgets from President Obama, Representative Ryan, Senator Toomey, and Senator Paul).

Normalizing the Abdication of Responsibility

• 2010: According to Majority Leader Harry Reid’s staff the budget resolution “is on a list of things that are possible for this work period.” No budget was ever considered.

• 2011: Majority Leader Reid stated, “There's no need to have a Democratic budget in my opinion … It would be foolish for us to do a budget at this stage.”

• 2012: Majority Leader Reid stated, “We do not need to bring a budget to the floor this year.”

Forfeiting the Trust of the American People

• Senate Democrats have thumbed their noses at one of the basic acts of governing – passing a budget to tell the American people how much their government will tax, spend, and borrow.

• By not even debating a budget, Democrats are trying to paper over their record of four straight trillion-dollar deficits.

• This failure is bad for the American people, bad for the Senate as an institution, and bad for the goal of effective government.

o Alexander Hamilton noted that citizens’ confidence in their government is related to whether the government is administered well or administered poorly.

o Because Senate Democrats’ refusal to pass a budget is poor administration, it hurts public confidence in the government.

o If the Senate could take on important fiscal issues by debating and voting on a budget, why not do it? Because Democrats are afraid to vote on Republican ideas.

o Even Democratic Senator Durbin has said, “If you don't want to cast tough votes, don't be a Member of Congress. I think we ought to welcome the possibility of having some tough votes on amendments.”

Budget Deadlines Missed This Year

The Senate Budget Committee has announced plans to markup a budget resolution as early as April 17th. However, this will still miss the deadline, and Majority Leader Reid will not bring it to the Senate floor. The following are the legal deadlines under the Budget Act of 1974.