[W]ASHINGTON — The Senate approved a budget resolution Thursday night — a key step in Republicans’ plans to reform the tax code.
Next a conference committee will reconcile the Senate resolution with a House version.
The resolution serves as a fiscal blueprint for the next year, and is a guide for the 12 appropriation bills that set specific levels of federal spending on various programs and initiatives.
The most significant feature of the budget resolution is the authorization of a $1.5 trillion increase in the federal deficit. The section is key to aspirations by congressional Republicans and the White House to enact a tax reform package that would cut federal corporate and individual income taxes.
The budget resolution was uniformly opposed by Democrats in the Senate. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, led the resistance through days of debate this week, which culminated in a “vote-a-rama.”
He was the first member of the Senate minority to speak after the upper chamber voted to proceed with the budget resolution vote Tuesday.
“Mr. President,” Sanders said, “I know that budgets are not particularly sexy and exciting discussions.” But they are important, he argued. Democrats said the Republican-led budget proposal would cut trillions of dollars from programs including Medicare, Medicaid, federal higher education programs, and more.
The tax plan, they contend, will benefit wealthy people over the middle class and working class Americans.
Republicans, meanwhile, say the budget and the tax package will stimulate economic growth, as Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, argued Wednesday night in a CNN debate with Sanders.
“This debate is very, very simple. Bernie and the Democrats want to raise your taxes, and the Republicans want to cut them so that you have more in your pocket,” Cruz said.
Cruz took aim at Sanders’ oft-repeated argument that the Republican plan will benefit primarily the wealthiest people in the country.
“Every time Bernie said ‘the rich,’ what he means is taxpayers. And so if you pay taxes, he’s talking about you,” Cruz said.
Sanders disagreed with the Republicans’ approach to provide economic relief to average American households, arguing that the GOP plan is designed to benefit people who are already very wealthy.
The country should “help the people who are hurting,” Sanders said. “You don’t help the people who are doing phenomenally well.”
The days-long debate on the budget culminated Thursday with a “vote-a-rama,” in which senators pitch amendments back-to-back for hours.
As Sanders entered the Senate chamber Thursday mid-afternoon, Democrats planned to highlight the impacts of the massive cuts.
“Our job is just to make it very clear to the people what is in that budget,” Sanders said.
The vote, he said, will mark where senators stand on controversial issues in the resolution.
“They’re on the record now, and that’s what’s important here,” Sanders said. “Media may not perceive it, but people now are going on the record on some very, very fundamental issues.”
Over six hours, senators considered nearly two dozen amendments on a range of issues. Many of those offered by Democrats, including one that would prevent drilling for oil and gas in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, were voted down.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who has said the budget does not cut enough spending, also offered several amendments — including one that would authorize the deficit to increase to $2.5 trillion, thereby allowing deeper tax cuts.
The final vote was taken shortly after 9 p.m. By the time the clerk finished calling the roll, the chamber had largely emptied out.
Two Republican senators shared a smile and a fist bump. Some straggling Democrats sat in their seats, checking their phones.
The resolution passed 51-49.