CQ TODAY ONLINE NEWS – BUDGET
May 19, 2011 – 5:51 p.m.
Conrad Delays Budget Markup in Deference to Ongoing Debt Talks
By Paul M. Krawzak, CQ Staff
Senate Budget Chairman
The announcement comes more than a month after the traditional April 15 deadline for Congress to adopt a budget and following growing criticism of the delay from Senate Republicans. The House passed its fiscal 2012 budget (
“Democrats on the Budget Committee are very close to an agreement,” Conrad said in a written statement. “We will have a budget. But, after broad consultation, we have decided to defer a budget markup because of the high-level bipartisan leadership negotiations that are currently underway.”
The North Dakota Democrat said any proposals that emerge from bipartisan debt-reduction talks led by Vice President
Congress faces a late-summer vote to raise the nation’s $14.3 trillion debt limit, and Republicans are demanding major spending cutbacks in exchange for any vote to raise the cap. Many Democrats also want some spending constraints, along with increased taxes to help reduce the government’s budget deficit.
Treasury Department officials say the nation could default on its debt obligations if the debt limit is not raised by Aug. 2.
As precedent, Conrad pointed to budget agreements that were reached in 1990 under President George Bush and 1997 under President Bill Clinton where a budget resolution and reconciliation legislation were used to implement the agreements.
Redrafted Plan
In recent weeks, Conrad was forced to rework an earlier budget plan aimed at reducing the deficit by $4 trillion over a decade after Vermont independent
Conrad rewrote the plan, generating more deficit reduction through tax increases and less through cuts to government programs.
Reacting to Conrad’s announcement, Sanders reiterated his insistence that he would not support any budget unless it requires the wealthiest Americans “to pay their fair share of taxes, and unless we do away with loopholes and tax breaks which enable companies making billions of dollars in profits to evade paying any taxes at all.”
He continued to shape his proposal after conversations with Democratic senators, aiming to produce a plan that would be acceptable to Sanders and other liberals as well as moderates like
Conrad Delays Budget Markup in Deference to Ongoing Debt Talks
Sessions has issued a steady stream of statements slamming Democrats for not producing a budget this year and not adopting one last year. The Budget Committee approved a budget last year, but Senate leaders chose not to put it on the floor for a vote.
Earlier Thursday, all 11 Republicans on the Budget Committee issued a statement criticizing the delay. “Democrats campaigned for the majority,” the statement said. “They asked for the job. To shut down the budget process is a deep disservice to the American electorate.”
One Budget Committee Democrat,
But Cardin said Democrats hope the Biden commission will produce a bipartisan deficit reduction plan that many also see as a potential vehicle for getting the votes to raise the debt ceiling. “We’re still looking to see whether there’s an opportunity for a bipartisan agreement coming out of the Biden talks, or the group of five and a half or whatever,” he said, referring to what used to be called the Gang of Six until
Brian Friel contributed to this story.