House minority Democrats make a counter-move

House Democrats are plotting a counteroffensive against Republican plans to pass a second version of their budget proposal on Friday.
 
Rep. Jim Moran (Va.), a senior Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, will submit an amendment Thursday that would scrap the GOP bill and replace it with a provision that prevents members of Congress and President Obama from being paid in the event of a government shutdown.
 
The Republican legislation, titled the Government Shutdown Prevention Act, already contains similar language, but the core of the bill would, in the absence of a Senate-passed budget for 2011, declare as law the spending bill the House passed in February, which cuts $61 billion from federal spending through the end of September.
 
The GOP proposal is largely symbolic and has been dismissed as “a political stunt” by Democrats.
 
The Moran amendment mirrors a bill that has already passed the Senate by unanimous consent. He plans to submit it at a Rules Committee hearing Thursday afternoon.
 
It is not clear if Republicans will allow amendments to their bill, but Democrats could use it as a motion to recommit, as a way of pressuring GOP lawmakers into backing a measure that has broad bipartisan support.