Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
What a difference a year makes. A year ago, the Tea-Publican Congress was posturing against Senate Democrats with a "no budget, no pay" gimmick from the GOP's Gimmicks-R-Us shoppe. House GOP Debt Ceiling Plan: 'No Budget, No Pay' - CNBC.com.
You will recall that Senate Democats actually did pass a budget early last year which was ignored by the Tea-Publican House so that they could set up their government shutdown in October, also from the GOP's Gimmicks-R-Us shoppe. But I digress.
Today's headline: Republicans Quietly Talk About Skipping Next Budget:
House Republicans are quietly discussing the option of not writing a budget in 2014, a maneuver that would free up time on the legislative calendar and protect GOP lawmakers from a potentially damaging vote in an election year.
The idea of Republicans skipping this year's budgetary process seems odd when considering the House GOP made history last year by attaching a policy rider called "No Budget, No Pay" to a debt-limit extension. That measure tied lawmakers' salaries to budgets being written in both chambers and paved the way for a budget agreement between House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan and Senate Budget Chairwoman Patty Murray.
But unbeknownst to some lawmakers at the time—and still some today—is that "No Budget, No Pay" was a one-year provision. It is now expired. [How convenient!] This, combined with the fact that Ryan-Murray set spending figures for the next fiscal year anyhow, has some House Republicans wondering if a budgeting process this year is really necessary.
A senior House GOP leadership aide confirmed there is a push coming from "political types" for House Republicans not to get engaged with a budget this year for fiscal 2015.
"Yes, there's been some of that," the aide said. The staffer identified some of those instigating such talk as people at the National Republican Campaign Committee. But he said he believed it is not getting much "traction" among House GOP leaders or members.
Rank hypocrisy. These people are simply not to be taken seriously.
The congressional timetable is April 15 for the deadline to complete action on the annual budget resolution.
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