James Rosen & Chad Pergram
FoxNews.com
5/6/2010
With the clock ticking on Congress’ working calendar in this midterm election year, it appears increasingly unlikely the House Democratic leadership will pass a budget resolution for the coming fiscal year — a move Republicans will seek to exploit for political gain in November.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer has candidly acknowledged that politics is a factor in the Democrats’ decision-making on the issue.
“It’s difficult to pass budgets in election years, because they reflect what the [fiscal] status is,” the Maryland Democrat told reporters last month. “We will see whether we have the votes to pass it.”
Even though Hoyer and his fellow Democrats argue that it was the Bush administration that plunged the country into deep deficit spending, many Democrats — especially the fiscally conservative “Blue Dogs” — are loath to face constituents after voting in favor of a budget so heavily burdened by deficit spending, as any passed this year would surely be. The Congressional Budget Office has projected that the deficit for this fiscal year will reach a record $1.5 trillion.
“There is some real tension within our caucus,” said Rep. Earl Blumenauer, a member of the Budget and Ways and Means Committees, told Fox News this week.
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