The Senate’s third-ranking Democrat said Sunday that his colleagues in the upper chamber will write up a budget blueprint for the first time in four years. House Republicans have been demanding just that in exchange for a vote on a short-term increase in the debt limit. But Sen. Charles Schumer made it clear on NBC that any budget would include changes in the tax code to increase revenue, making it clear what will be the next fight with Republicans, who have insisted they will not agree to any more tax hikes, reports Reuters.
On ABC News, White House senior adviser David Plouffe also said President Obama fully expects to continue talking about taxes, despite Republican insistence that the issue is over. “We are going to require some more revenues,” Plouffe said.
Schumer said Senate Democrats won’t write up a budget, which they last did in 2009, as a concession to Republicans: “Democrats have always intended to do a budget this year.”
Although drafting a budget might seem to be a non-issue, it’s actually a “political gamble,” explains the New York Times, noting that “the party in the minority has traditionally used the budget debate to score political points with amendments that mean little but are intended to put senators on record on contentious political issues.”
