The day after Democrats won an upset victory in a special election in New York that featured a battle over GOP plans to reform Medicare, the issue dominated the halls of the Capitol, as Democrats tried to capitalize on their surprise victory.
Their first order of business was to force Republicans in the Senate to go on the record on the House GOP budget plan, authored by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), which included plans for Medicare reforms.
"This ill-conceived plan would have pulled the rug out from under America’s seniors in order to finance extra tax cuts for millionaires," said Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), as the Senate voted 57-40 against bringing up the Ryan plan for debate.
Only five Republicans ran from the Ryan plan: Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts, Sen. Susan Collins and Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine, Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky.
Paul's objection was that the Ryan plan does not go far enough. Later on, he was one of only seven GOP Senators to vote to consider his budget.
While 40 Republicans voted to work on the Ryan budget, 42 voted to debate a budget plan from Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA), but no Senators - zero - voted to bring up President Obama's budget.
And as for a budget from Democrats in the Senate - there still isn't one - and so, there was no vote on it yesterday.
The votes mean that the Senate will go home for Memorial Day no closer to forging a budget deal, as Republicans point out that it's been over 750 days since Democrats brought a budget to the Senate floor.
"At a moment when our debts and deficits threaten the very future of our nation, Democrats have no excuse for proposing no vision of their own. There’s no defense," said Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).
Democrats say now is not the time to offer up a budget, arguing that Vice President Biden is still leading negotiations on a debt limit/budget deal, and that a group of five Senators could still produce some kind of agreement.
But Republicans scoff at such talk, accusing Democrats of avoiding - for a second straight year - their responsibility to bring a budget to the Senate floor.
In other words, this debate will continue after Memorial Day in the Senate - with no clear path to a deal.
