Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, defended House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) budget proposal, Tuesday morning, throwing some elbows toward his detractors.
Speaking of Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-ND), Sessions scolded Conrad for saying that “Representative Ryan’s proposal is partisan and ideological,” and that Ryan’s tax cuts are for “the wealthiest financed by draconian reductions in Medicare and Medicaid.”
Sessions went on to ask: “Is this going to be the nature of our discussion? — I thought we were supposed to be trying to reach a bipartisan understanding of the challenges facing us and do something about it.”
In comparison to much of today’s political rhetoric, this is pretty tepid. But to senate observers, this is notable because it marks the first time in recollection that Sessions has been publicly critical of Conrad on the floor.
As one insider told me, this is the most vocal Ranking Member Sessions has been on this to date — and could portend more if the Senate does not get its act together and work on a budget.