Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid has a plan to force Republicans to the negotiating table over federal spending. President Obama and Democrats want to get rid of
sequestration, the strict budget caps imposed on almost all spending by the 2011 Budget Control Act. Sequester was born out of Republicans' unprecedented refusal to agree to increase the debt limit without massive spending cuts. Now Reid wants to turn the tables and use obstruction to force an end to the crippling cuts. He apparently has his conference on board, first getting agreement to
hold out for a long-term transportation bill. Now it looks like he's got leadership and committee chair approval to
block all of the spending bills.
At a closed-door Democratic leadership meeting Tuesday night, Reid (D-Nev.) vowed that his caucus wouldn't allow a single spending measure to get a floor vote, sources familiar with the meeting say. And on Thursday at noon, his top lieutenants announced their party's intentions to filibuster and prevent Republicans from even calling up the spending measures.
"We will not vote to proceed to the Defense appropriations bill or any appropriations bills until Republicans have sat down at the table and figured out with us how we’re going to properly fund the Defense Department … and our families' domestic needs,” said Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) at the news conference disclosing the strategy. […]
"Every day that goes by without an agreement to replace sequestration in a responsible way is a day that makes it tougher," said Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), calling GOP insistence on moving their own spending bills a "waste of time." She and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) took a full two months to hammer out the first agreement to lift the caps in 2013, she said—a pact that many lawmakers hope can be recreated this year. "It's getting us, every day, closer to a meltdown."
They've got Senate Armed Services ranking member Jack Reed (D-RI) on board, as well as a critical supporter—Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) who is ranking member of the Appropriations Committee. Mikulski tends toward caution, but had a strong warning for Republicans: "I want to put the chairman on notice: The president will veto bills at this allocation, and Democrats will vote against motions to proceed to these bills on the Senate floor. […] We need a sequel to Murray-Ryan, and we need it sooner rather than later." Even Claire McCaskill (D-MO) is behind leadership on blocking the Republicans' defense spending bill.
On the House side, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi vows to do the same, to keep her conference together to deny Republicans veto-proof majorities on any spending bills. Pelosi is going further, telling Democrats that they need to combine this strategy with calls for tax increases. President Obama is with Reid and the Democrats as well, at least on defense spending. He's vowed to veto the authorization bill, the precursor to the defense spending bill, because the Republicans are trying to use war funding which is not subject to the mandatory cuts to boost the Pentagon's budget. He's pressing Democrats to stand tough and sustain his veto.
