Congressional Republicans are completely blowing off President Barack Obama’s 2017 budget proposal, refusing to hold hearings on it because they say it would be a waste of time.
Now Democrats are calling that snub “disrespectful to all of the hard work that went into producing this expansive document.”
“President Obama’s budget is full of the same failed policies that has led our country down a path of reckless bloated spending, burdensome regulations and higher taxes,” Republican Montana Sen. Steve Daines said in a statement. “This is President Obama’s eighth consecutive unbalanced budget that only serves to bolster his liberal agenda instead of lifting up hardworking American families.”
“The American people deserve real solutions and a balanced budget — not an unworkable liberal messaging document,” Daines said.
A group of Senate Budget Committee Democrats wrote a letter to Chairman Mike Enzi Monday expressing “dismay over [his] decision to not hold a hearing on the President’s Fiscal Year 2017 budget request.”
The letter notes that “this will be the first time in the Budget Committee’s history that no such hearing has taken place.”
The President’s budget is more than a political document; it is the compilation of the opinions of experts from throughout the government who are carrying out policies and programs created by Congress. It is based on their individual an collective judgment on what items require more funding, and where savings can be found. Declining to give the President’s budget a hearing is disrespectful to all of the hard work that went into producing this expansive document…
This year, with no unusual circumstances to prevent us from doing our work, we have been provided with no reasonable explanation for the decision not to hold a hearing…
Although we will have disagreements regarding the budget the committee will produce, we fully expect the majority will want its proposal to get a full and fair hearing, and we are committed to taking part in that process.
You can read the entirety of the letter — signed by Sens. Bernie Sanders, [crscore]Ron Wyden[/crscore], [crscore]Debbie Stabenow[/crscore], [crscore]Patty Murray[/crscore], [crscore]Sheldon Whitehouse[/crscore], [crscore]Mark Warner[/crscore], [crscore]Jeff Merkley[/crscore], [crscore]Tammy Baldwin[/crscore], tim Kaine and [crscore]Angus King[/crscore] Jr. — below.