Bernie Sanders slams “overt partisanship” of GOP leaders who rejected Obama’s final budget before it

[Autumn]

was even released.

For the first time in history, Congressional Republicans refuse to even hold a hearing on the President's budget

When President Obama released his administration’s final budget request on Tuesday morning, it was an even more futile exercise than in years past. After outlining the policy priorities of his final year in office during last month’s State of the Union and releasing a series of previews of his proposals for the last couple of weeks, Congressional Republicans had already decided they didn’t have to bother to do their job and review the budget before outright rejecting it.

In a break with a 41-year-old tradition dating back to the start of the modern budget process in 1975, the Republican chairmen of the House and Senate budget committees announced last week that they wouldn’t bother to host the president’s budget director, Shaun Donovan, to present the president’s entire budget in a hearing before Congress.

Vermont Independent and Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, who has ruffled some feathers on Capitol Hill with his denouncement of Hillary Clinton’s congressional support as “the establishment,” lead Senate Democrats in railing against the Republicans’ breach of decorum today after their counterparts in the House decried the GOP’s move earlier this week.

“The president’s budget is more than a political document; it is a compilation of the opinions of experts throughout the government,” Sanders, the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, wrote in a letter with his Democratic colleagues (and Angus King) to Sen. Enzi. Sanders and the Senate Democrats said they were “disappointed” and “dismayed” with the Republicans’ behavior.

http://www.salon.com/2016/02/09/bernie_sanders_slams_overt_partisanship_of_gop_leaders_who_rejected_obamas_final_budget_before_it_was_even_released/

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1. .

copy of letter: http://www.budget.senate.gov/democratic/public/_cache/files/cfc49dc4-a424-4bf5-af1c-a0a3aee99509/letter-to-chairman-enzi-2.9.16.pdf

[Autumn]

3. It all depends on the perspective I guess. nt

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7. it just has that sinking, stale feel

...familiar to anyone who watches these things closely.

Here's the republican majority taking leaps and bounds past traditional protocol and deference to the minority and president, and the response is so pro forma.

And on the outside, the ranking member is talking about a revolution...


I do appreciate their standing up for the president's budget, however tentative and undemanding.

[Autumn]

8. Actually, on the outside the ranking member

is helping to bring about a revolution....

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9. he's right there!

...I mean, right there. Where's the stuff?

[beam me up scottie]

2. That's our Bernie!

[Autumn]

4. That's leadership. I'm proud that he spoke up on this travesty even while he's been busy

campaigning.

[beam me up scottie]

5. He hasn't forgotten who the real enemy is.

[Autumn]

6. No and he never will forget.

[BKH70041]

10. Strategically Speaking

Just simply from a strategic standpoint, this is reasonable calculated move by the GOP. There's a whole lot of voters from all over the map who it seems, in this coming election year, are tired of "a compilation of the opinions of experts throughout the government." From what I've read, there's a sizable number of citizens who believe these "government experts" are to blame for the poor performance of the country today.

This election year will indeed be different from others in several ways, no doubt.