Democrats punt on Senate budget bill for third year - Washington Times

Democrats punt on Senate budget bill for third year - Washington Times

In a stunning backtrack that virtually guaranteesCongress for the third year will be unable to produce a budget, Senate Democrats’ top budget writer Tuesday canceled this week’s expected votes on a 2013 fiscal blueprint.

Instead, Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, North Dakota Democrat, said he will use the next few months to try to breathe life into the shelved 2-year-old Bowles-Simpson deficit commission proposal.

Mr. Conrad said he wasn’t able to get enough Democrats to back a fiscal 2013 budget, much less reach a bipartisan agreement, and that he decided instead to try to kick-start a longer-term debate.

“This is the wrong time to vote in the committee. This is the wrong time to vote on the floor,” Mr. Conrad told reporters as he announced his strategy. “We do need to try to maximize the chance as we get closer to all the tax cuts expiring and the sequester being imposed that we’re ready to act.”