Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA): Democrats May Not Pass Budget

On Thursday, Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) announced that if she wins the chairmanship of the Senate Budget Committee, Democrats may not pass a budget for the fourth year in a row.

“I am committed to working with our committee and with our Congress to put a budget in place but there are a lot of questions in front of us: What happens in the next two weeks, six weeks, year? Does the White House and the leadership come together on some solution to the budget that we have right now that precludes a budget being written next year?” Murray told The Hill, punting on the budget question.”I have no idea.”

Republicans cannot filibuster a budget resolution, so Democrats can pass a budget whenever they want because they will have 55 seats next year and only 51 votes are needed to pass to pass the resolution. 

The Senate has not passed a budget since 2009 and Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) said “it is very distressing” that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has “for political reasons, not allowed Senate Democrats to be on record for anything.” 

Sessions said the Senate is legally obligated to pass a budget resolution and Democrats “don’t need a single Republican vote to pass a budget.