End Of Week Update

I had a huge update ready to go in preparation for the big vote on Saturday, but all that has become moot because of this:

When Harry Reid scheduled a rare motion-to-table vote for this morning rather than waiting for the cloture vote tomorrow, one had to presume that he had the votes to kill the Cut, Cap, and Balance Act. He did — but but it was close. From the Boss Emeritus:

Update: 10:57am Eastern…The Senate just voted down the House Cut Cap and Balance bill, 51-46. Reid danced on its grave, proclaiming it “over, dead, and done.” Back to the Democrat plan:

Nothing!

Speaking of which, remember when Reid insisted on Wednesday that it was just terrible for the House to take the weekend off in the middle of the crisis, just in case the Senate needed them to act on a proposal from the upper chamber? Now, apparently, it’s Miller Time, according to Politico’s Manu Raju:

Senators catching flights home now – weekend votes ain’t gonna happen, we’re told

The House has at least proposed two different plans to deal with the debt crisis. The Senate has yet to come up with any plan. Neither has the White House, despite the hysteria over the August 2nd deadline. So why are Senators streaming out of Washington DC, Senator Reid? And doesn’t that make this earlier whining a little more hypocritical?

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) confronted White House budget director Jack Lew during a Thursday afternoon meeting about secret talks on a deficit-reduction deal between the president and Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio).

“I’m the Senate majority leader — why don’t I know about this deal?” Reid demanded as soon as the budget director walked into the historic Mansfield Room for a meeting with Senate Democrats, according to a lawmaker who witnessed the exchange.

Maybe if the Senate Majority Leader spent some time leading, he might be important enough to include.

Update: Actually, Reid could have filibustered it had he chosen to do so. I’ve fixed the first paragraph.

Update II: Straight party-line vote. It will be interesting to see how Ben Nelson and Claire McCaskill defend their decision to deny a balanced-budget amendment vote when it comes time to run for re-election next year.

In the case of Claire-bear, I'm not sure it matters. She's already voted for the stimulus, Obamacare, and all the other liberal government explosions over the past two years, so she's in enough hot water that it doesn't much matter.

Still, it's pretty telling that the Dems continue to refuse to put forward any solutions at all (much less solutions that will work) for the major problems facing this nation. They're going to reap the whirlwind in the next election for sure...I just hope it won't be too late to fix the damage they've done.



Related...
Americans approve of the House plan by 2:1 in a CNN poll
Most voters fear Congress will strike a deal that will raise taxes too much and cut spending too little