For the first time in over 20 years, our Republican-controlled Congress will not even hold a hearing on President Obama's budget proposal which will be unveiled this week.
It's not as if any of us expect them to pass the president's blueprint, but the last time they refused to even talk about it, Bill Clinton was president.
Leaders of Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) and House Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price (R-Ga.) said they would not hold hearings with Shaun Donovan, the White House's budget director, to review the president's fiscal 2017 budget.
"I guess the future is pretty dim if you have Republicans in Congress unwilling to even talk about the budget with the White House," Earnest said Friday.
Congressional Republicans have designs of their own which Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) says they're "committed to trying to pass," but if they won't even talk to the White House about it, you can bet they don't intend to pass anything President Obama would actually sign into law.
And that's assuming a lot. That's assuming Republicans in Congress will even be able to pass their own proposals during an election year.
It seems more likely to me Congress will eventually resign themselves to passing a continuing resolution that will takes us through the November election and possibly the new year. Of course that will not occur until they spend the better part of a year chasing their own tail.