Sessions: Conrad's Trying End Around GOP on Budget

Bipartisanship apparently goes only so far. Sen. Jeff Sessions, the ranking Republican on the Budget Committee, is worried that the panel’s Democratic chairman, Kent Conrad, may try to go around the committee in pushing his own 2012 budget plan directly to the floor, Politico reports.

Sen. Jeff Sessions: Don't bypass the process. (Getty Images Photo)

“With still no mark-up scheduled, weeks after the deadline has passed, I am becoming concerned that Chairman Conrad may bypass the committee process altogether,” Sessions said.

Stu Nagurka, a spokesman for North Dakotan Conrad, told Politico that his boss didn’t mention that idea to him. But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid admitted to reporters Wednesday that Conrad is considering a budget plan without Republican input.

The budget committee’s 11 Republicans sent Conrad a letter Tuesday requesting that he post a budget plan on the Internet and present it to the committee in public.