Dems might again use RSC budget to bedevil House Republicans

House Democrats might once again play games with the Republican Study Committee budget when it comes to the floor Thursday.
 
House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) is holding his cards close to his vest. His office isn’t saying whether he will use the same trick he employed last year.
 

Hoyer got most Democrats to vote “present” on the RSC budget last year rather than voting “no.” The plan almost forced the passage of the RSC budget, which Democrats deride as the GOP leadership budget “on steroids.”
 
The RSC budget is much more conservative than that backed by GOP leaders. It cuts spending by $2.2 trillion more over 10 years than the budget authored by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.).
 
Adopting the budget would mean House appropriators would have to cut $97 billion more out of their 2013 spending bills than under the Ryan plan.
 
Last April, the House floor erupted into a chaotic scene as Hoyer put his surprise plan into action.
 
The RSC budget failed in a 119-136 vote, with 172 Democrats voting present.  Several Republicans, including Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier (Calif.) and Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Wash.), a member of GOP leadership, switched their votes to ensure the more conservative budget failed.
 
A spokeswoman for Hoyer said at the time the maneuver was Hoyer’s idea.
 
"With Democrats voting present, Republicans are solely responsible for passage or failure of the RSC budget,” a whip notice said.
 
Republicans last year had prepared a procedural fallback to get out of the jam if the Hoyer scheme had prevailed. Rep. Scott Garrett (R-N.J.) said if the plan had succeeded, Republicans would have moved Ryan's 2012 budget resolution as a substitute amendment to the RSC plan.

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