Who's Obstructionist Now?

UPDATE:

Bumped to the top.   Just minutes ago Senator Jim Demint hit all the right notes in this diatribe against Harry Reid and the Senate Democrats:

“It is outrageous that every Senate Democrat voted against even allowing a debate on balancing the budget within 10 years, a plan supported by two-thirds of Americans with wide support across all party lines. Why are Senate Democrats so afraid to debate a balanced budget? Cut, Cap, Balance is the compromise plan that passed the House and can end the wasteful spending that caused this debt crisis. It gives the President the debt limit increase he has asked for in return for immediate spending cuts, enforceable spending caps, and a constitutional amendment to force Washington to stop spending more than it brings in.

“The President and Democrats have been beyond reckless in this debate, refusing to offer any serious solution to our fiscal crisis. The only plan the President has offered would increase our debt by $10 trillion and push our nation into bankruptcy.

“I urge Republican leaders to stop letting the President to drag you back like children into secret meetings where he pretends to do something constructive. The President created this crisis by irresponsible spending and borrowing that has left our economy in shambles, and if he’s unwilling to simply agree to balance the budget in 10 years then he is not a credible negotiating partner.

“No more closed door meetings, no more phony compromises that don’t solve the problem, no more useless commissions. We have a balanced approach supported by a bipartisan House majority that ends our debt crisis if just four Senate Democrats would keep their promise and support a balanced budget.

“We must pass Cut, Cap & Balance to keep our nation from falling off a fiscal cliff.”

*****

The House, by a vote of 234-190, including five Democrats in the majority, passed "cut, cap and balance" this week, which cuts federal spending by $110 billion next year, caps future spending at 19.9 percent of the gross national product, and introduces a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced federal budget.   Not a great bill, perhaps -- $110 billion for next year is too little (roughly 10% of the projected deficit), and 19.9% is too much (historical norms have been around 18% of GDP) -- but it's a real piece of legislation that has been proposed, debated and passed by one of the two houses of Congress.  

Today, the Senate, by a vote of 51-46 along straight party lines -- not one Democrat voting out of lock-step with their leadership -- chose not to even permit "cut, cap and balance" to be debated in the Senate, notwithstanding polling data showing that 66% of Americans would support the bill:

23. In another proposal, Congress would raise the debt ceiling only if a balanced budget amendment were passed by both houses of Congress and substantial spending cuts and caps on future spending were approved. Would you favor or oppose this proposal?

July 18-20 2011

Favor 66%

Oppose 33%

No opinion 1%

Oh, by the way, that's a CNN poll.   Not Rasmussen.   Not Fox News.   CNN.

Look, Paul Ryan proposed a budget and the House passed it.   Now the House has passed "cut, cap and balance."   Meanwhile, we're going on 814 days since the Democrat-led Senate has passed a budget.   Where's the Senate Democratic plan to balance the budget?   Where's the President's plan?   Where are the specific cuts they're willing to make?   Where's the meat?   And when they have an actual bill that's been passed  by the House by a significant majority, whose members were before the American voters only 8 months ago and were elected on precisely this issue, the Senate won't even debate it?  Really?

Where's the mainstream media on this?   Out to lunch, that's where.