Today in Washington D. C. - April 3, 2009

The House is scheduled to return Monday, but the Senate is in recess until April 20th. When the Senate reconvenes, it will take up the motion to proceed to financial fraud legislation, S. 386. The Senate is also expected to vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the nomination of Christopher Hill to be ambassador to Iraq.

Last night, the Senate voted 55-43 to pass the $3.5 trillion budget proposal, S. Con. Res. 13. No Republican voted for the budget and Democrat Sens. Evan Bayh and Ben Nelson voted against it. Yesterday the House also passed the budget by a vote of 233-196. No Republican voted for the budget; also 20 Democrats voted no.

In the Senate, 26 votes on amendments were taken yesterday. Importantly, the Senate approved by a vote of 51-48 an amendment from Sens. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) and Jon Kyl (R-AZ) to increase the estate tax exemption and reduce the rate to 35% when it goes up in 2011. The amendment was passed over the strong objections of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Also approved, by a 94-3 vote, was an amendment by Sen. John Thune (R-SD) to require 60 votes to pass any legislation that would not allow the full charitable giving tax deduction.

Among other notable amendments, the Senate rejected
- a substitute budget from Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) that would have extended the Bush tax cuts and would have reduced spending
- an amendment from Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) to means test the Medicare prescription drug benefit
- an amendment from Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) to prevent the AMT from affecting taxpayers over the next 5 years
- an amendment from Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) to require 60 votes to pass legislation that has not been made available to the public online for five days.

Both House and Senate Republicans joined together to unanimously reject Democrats’ $3.5 trillion budget proposal that spends too much, taxes too much, and borrows too much. In fact, the opposition was bipartisan, considering that a number of responsible Democrats, two in the Senate and twenty in the House, also voted against the budget. This was not an easy vote for these Democrats; Karl Rove’s op-ed in The Wall Street Journal yesterday pointed out that Preisdent Obama and liberal interest groups are “keeping score” with Democrats.

As The Wall Street Journal discusses today, 26 Democrats joined with all 41 Senate Republicans to reject the use of reconciliation to pass cap-and-trade energy tax. The Journal points out that “it’s a signal that California and East Coast Democrats won’t be able to sock it to coal and manufacturing-heavy Midwestern states without a fight.” Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said, “The strong bipartisan vote on this issue should serve as a clear warning to those involved in crafting the final budget: Americans vehemently oppose a new national energy tax that would hit them every time they flip on a light switch, watch TV, or drive the family car.”

Despite the apparent rejection of reconciliation on an energy tax plan, Politico notes that Democrats want to produce a budget conference report that allows reconciliation for health care reform legislation, protecting it from any Senate filibuster: “The House’s resolution takes a major step in this direction by instructing committees to produce health care reform legislation by late September and triggering ‘reconciliation’ budget rules that require only a simple majority for passage in the Senate.”

As evidenced by the AIG bonus controversy, what happens behind closed doors in conference committee is often more important than what happens on the Senate floor. Therefore, it’s worth keeping an eye on the budget conference to see if they return a document that includes partisan reconciliation instructions and puts the U.S. on the same fiscally unsustainable course the House and Senate budgets laid out.

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