Stop the Presses: The Senate Drafts a Budget!

After 4 years of blowing off one of their primary Constitutional responsibilities, the Democrat-controlled Senate finally came up with a draft budget. I guess we should chalk this up to "progress." At issue is the direction this so-called progress would take us (emphasis mine):

WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats unveiled a largely stand-pat budget on Wednesday that calls for $1 trillion in new tax revenues over the coming decade and increases spending while protecting the party’s domestic policy priorities and adding $4 trillion more to the national debt than a slashing alternative from House Republicans.

The plan by Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray of Washington blends about $1 trillion in modest cuts to health care providers, the Pentagon, domestic agencies, and interest payments on the debt with an equal amount in new revenue claimed by closing tax breaks.

But because Democrats want to restore $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts over the same period — cuts imposed by Washington’s failure to strike a broader budget pact — Murray’s blueprint increases spending slightly when compared with current policies.

I guess adding another $4 trillion to the national debt, already over $16 trillion now, is no big deal. After all, the president has told us that there is no debt crisis.

Here's what an Alabama senator had to say (emphasis mine):

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala), the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, summarized the contents of that budget effort: “The Senate Democrat plan offers $7.3 trillion in new debt in the first 10 years, with interest payments climbing to $791 billion in the tenth year and total debt rising to $24.4 trillion. Debt remains permanently elevated above the danger zone of 90 percent of GDP, resulting in slower growth and lost wages. Excluding war spending gimmicks, net deficit reduction is only $279 billion. In the Senate Democrat plan, the deficit in 2023 is $566 billion; the House Republican plan, in contrast, produces a surplus in the tenth year.”

Obviously, I'm in no position to assess the veracity of these descriptions, as the spin cycle is already in full force. In fact, a later version of the AP article removes the sentence about adding $4 trillion to the national debt.

In 2008, the national debt stood at about $10 trillion, and we thought it was bad then. If the Senate's budget were ever enacted (which it will not as long as the Republicans hold the House), by 2023 - a timeframe of a mere 15 years - we will have fully doubled the national debt.

So you'll have to forgive my snarky attitude and my pessimism about the fiscal direction of this nation. It is just plain stupid. Not a nice thing to say, I know, but it is true.