The Republicans' new dead-on-arrival budget could soon prove a stumbling block for the GOP's four 2016 hopefuls in the Senate. It seems they'll have to take sides: should the budget cut, cut, cut (just as the economy makes a legit recovery); or should we be pouring money into defense coffers for an endless global war? The options are so tantalizing, it'll be hard to choose just one. Manu Raju of
Politico reports:
That will give voters a clear read on their ideology just as they’re hitting the campaign trail — and likely complicate Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s vow to shepherd a spending blueprint through the GOP-controlled Congress.
Drat—a snag! Just when things were totally looking up for McConnell, who can sidestep a Democratic filibuster and pass the budget resolution with a simple majority—the operative word here being "majority." He can't afford to lose more than three of his 54 senators on the vote.
The four senators in question are Rand Paul of Kentucky, Ted Cruz of Texas, Marco Rubio of Florida and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. The first two have typically been drawn to the cut, cut, cut corner, while the latter two tend to mingle more with the endless global war crowd. Here's a little taste of the spirited debate to come:
“I think part of our national security is trying not to overburden the country with debt,” Paul said.
Graham fired back: “I agree with Sen. Paul that one of the threats to our nation is the debt. But I reject the idea that defense spending has anything at all to do with that.”
Head below the fold for more of the fun.
Okay, but surely once the budget sails through the House with a clear mandate, the momentum will be unstoppable. House Republicans are on it.
Wednesday night they couldn't even get their own budget out of committee, because the warmongers want more defense spending and the cut-everything caucus won't go along.
Never mind the House for now, the more reasonable members of the Upper Chamber, like Ted Cruz and John McCain, will undoubtedly come together for the good of the party.
[I]t’s doubtful that a budget that cuts as much as Paul and Cruz are seeking could win the support of the centrist elements of the Senate Republican Conference.
At the same time, Senate Republican defense hawks are skittish about the plan unveiled Wednesday by Sen. Mike Enzi, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee. At least one — Arizona Sen. John McCain — said he would oppose the plan if it does not ratchet up spending for national security.
Whatever, all this hyped-up GOP tension is surely just biased reporting from that liberal rag
Politico. McConnell's got this.
When asked about the challenges in passing a GOP budget last year, McConnell declared: “Failure is not an option.”
Don't touch that dial.