McConnell: Public’s ‘voices heard’ in budget vote

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Thursday the Senate’s first budget vote under new Republican leadership is a chance for Americans to be heard after the 2014 midterm elections. 
 
“They called for change and today, the Senate is delivering that change,” McConnell said during his daily opening remarks.
 
“Tonight, the American people will have their voices heard again here in the Senate under new management.”
 
{mosads}Under Thursday’s “vote-a-rama” marathon budget session, senators will have the chance to offer unlimited amendments before an eventual vote on the final budget. That vote is expected after 2 a.m. Friday morning.
 
McConnell asserted that the GOP’s blueprint would provide a pathway toward a balanced budget, paying down the deficit. That message was underscored by a poster placed behind him as he spoke, which read “balanced budget.”
 He praised the plan for repealing and replacing ObamaCare, as well as for charting a path forward on entitlement programs.
 
“We can make commonsense improvements to save these programs today, or we can allow draconian cuts to fall on the most vulnerable in the years ahead,” he said.

“We can’t tax the problem away.”
 
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) criticized McConnell’s view of the GOP’s budget as ill-conceived. He blamed the GOP for calling for the continuation of sequestration cuts, and cited those cuts as scuttling the National Institutes of Health’s progress on a comprehensive flu vaccine.
 
“They’re doubling down on this harmful sequestration on health, education and even defense,” Reid said. He called the GOP’s plan to add $38 billion to the Overseas Contingency Operations fund in order to boost defense spending a “gimmick” and warned that the Pentagon wouldn’t see the money.
 
Reid promised that “fortunately for the country, the Republican budget will not become law.”
 
Senate Democrats do not have a comprehensive budget plan of their own, and the Senate recently voted against taking up President Obama’s budget in a vote offered by Republican leadership to force Democrats to take a tough vote on Obama’s policies.
 
With the possibility of snow later Thursday night, McConnell and Reid joked that the forecast could convince colleagues to offer fewer amendments in the hopes of getting out earlier.
 
“The lateness of the evening affects the number of amendments we have,” McConnell told Reid with a chuckle.
 
“We’ll finish the process just as early as members would like to finish the process.”