–Senate Minority Leader Says GOP ‘Takes The Law Seriously’ On Budgets
–Will Offer Obama’s Budget To Show Its Lack of Support

By John Shaw

WASHINGTON (MNI) – Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said
Tuesday that Senate Republicans will force votes on a host of budgets
this year, including President Barack Obama’s fiscal year 2013 budget.

In comments to reporters, McConnell hammered Senate Democrats for
opting not to hold a wide-ranging budget debate this spring with votes
on various alternatives.

“We take the law seriously,” McConnell said, referring to the
Senate GOP and budget law which calls on Congress to pass a budget
resolution by April 15.

McConnell said he will personally present Obama’s budget, adding
that he did last year and it received no votes in the Senate.

Senate Republicans also will force votes on House Budget Committee
Chairman Paul Ryan’s budget as well as plans by conservative Senate
Republicans, Pat Toomey and Rand Paul, he said.

Last week, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad decided to
introduce the Simpson-Bowles deficit reduction plan as his fiscal year
2013 budget resolution.

Conrad’s decision this week to embrace Simpson-Bowles received a
generally favorable response among many Democrats and some Republicans.

But the Senate Budget chairman received withering attacks from the
GOP for his refusal to consider amendments to his package or allow for
votes on alternative budgets when the Budget Committee met last week to
consider Conrad’s plan.

Conrad said it would be premature and even counterproductive to
hold votes on the Simpson-Bowles framework this spring, but the plan
represents “the best blueprint to build” a bipartisan consensus for a
major deficit reduction package. However, this consensus will probably
not come together until after the November election.

Developing a bipartisan budget agreement will take months of
discussions and negotiations which should begin immediately, he said.

But the Republican senators have blasted Conrad and especially on
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid who has been saying for months that
the Senate did not need to vote on a budget resolution this year because
last year’s debt ceiling accord made key fiscal decisions.

The Simpson-Bowles plan calls for more $5.4 trillion in deficit
reduction over a decade, with a mix of spending cuts and tax increases.
It would reduce spending to about 22% of GDP by 2022 and bring revenues
up to about 21% of GDP in 2022.

** Market News International Washington Bureau: (202) 371-2121 **

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