Let’s just say that Kent Conrad’s mark-up of the Bowles-Simpson plan yesterday in the Senate Budget Committee didn’t go according to the script. The “markup” didn’t include any votes, first of all. This was by design, but it turned the proceedings into something of a farce. Some Republicans argued that Conrad should have allowed votes [...]

Kent Conrad, the retiring Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, just announced that the markup for the FY 2013 budget will commence tomorrow. And instead of creating model legislation, he will simply take the recommendations proposed by the Chairmen of the Bowles-Simpson deficit commission, popularly known as the “catfood commission,” as the baseline. Tomorrow I [...]

The one moderately effective charge that Republicans have been making at Democrats with respect to the budget process is that the Senate hasn’t passed a budget in over 1,000 days. That’s a fairly simplistic rendering. This really only refers to a budget resolution – if there wasn’t a budget there wouldn’t be a working federal [...]

Two more Senators expressed support today for the Safe Banking Act, which would cap the size and leverage of the nation’s biggest financial firms. This brings the total number of supporters in the Senate to seven. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) has come aboard as a co-sponsor of the effort, according to his office. Merkley also [...]