Senate Will Vote On Ryan's Budget

By Anna Cameron

In a conference call with reporters Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) revealed that he will schedule a vote on the House GOP budget.

Though the budget - drafted primarily by House Budget Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) - is not expected to pass in the Democrat-contolled Senate, Reid noted that he expects a vote to paint a clear picture of what Senate Republicans think of the Ryan budget. 

“We’re going to take a look at this and find out if the Republicans in the Senate…are really as supportive of the Republican budget that came out of the House as the Republicans are in the House,” he said. “I want to find out how all but two Republicans in the House voted for this.”

From the outset, Democrats have stood in strong opposition to the Ryan budget, with not a single House Democrat voting in support of the plan two weeks ago.

However, the vote will also test the support of moderate Republicans like Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who recently announced that she will not vote for the House GOP proposal. 

“It would be one of the worst things to happen to this country if that came into effect,” said Reid when asked if he believed the budget would pass the Senate.

At present, a bipartisan group in the Senate referred to as the “Gang of Six” is working to draft its own proposal, and a commission headed by Vice President Joe Biden that includes several House and Senate leaders is expected to begin meeting next week to discuss plans for deficit reduction.

President Barack Obama recently unveiled his own spending blueprint, which aims to reduce the deficit by $4 trillion over the next 12 years.