Senate Dems Defect From Own Budget Plan

Senate Democrats are in disarray. In a vote Wednesday, 11 of them rejected their own party’s budget plan, The Hill reports. The Republican budget bill received more votes (44) than the Democratic proposal (42), despite Democrats’ control of the Senate.

“Eleven Senate Democrats just voted against their leadership’s proposal,” said Michael Steel, spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio). “The bill supported by Sen. Reid ... proved less popular than the ‘draconian’ House Republican proposal in the Democrat-controlled Senate.” Democrats had called the Republican bill “draconian” during Senate debate.

The defectors included centrists and liberals: Michael Bennet, D-Colo.; Kay Hagan, D-N.C.; Herb Kohl, D-Wis.; Carl Levin, D-Mich.; Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.; Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.; Ben Nelson, D-Neb.; Bill Nelson, D-Fla.; Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.; Mark Udall, D-Colo.; and Jim Webb, D-Va.