Player of the Week: Chris Van Hollen

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) is in a difficult spot.

As the ranking member on the House Budget Committee, he has been working for weeks on the Democratic leadership’s spending plan for fiscal 2012.

Democrats opted not to offer a budget last year, a move strongly criticized by the GOP throughout the 2010 election season. It was used effectively against House Budget Committee Chairman John Spratt (D-S.C.), who lost his midterm race.

Noting that they are the minority in the lower chamber, some Democrats argue that there is no need to offer a budget plan this year. Van Hollen, however, is not among them. He contends that it is important for the public to know what House Democrats’ spending priorities are, and how they would address the record federal deficit. 

Most, if not all, House Democrats oppose Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) blueprint for fiscal 2012. But getting the House Democratic Caucus to coalesce behind one budget plan is a major challenge.

Several House Democratic entities, including the Congressional Black Caucus, the Congressional Progressive Caucus and the Blue Dog Coalition, usually offer their own proposals.

Van Hollen and other Democratic leaders would like those groups to refrain from releasing competing plans. But his main goal is to persuade his colleagues to back the plan he is expected to release shortly.

If Van Hollen calls for big spending cuts, he could lose support from liberals. If his plan doesn’t aggressively attack the deficit, Blue Dogs may repudiate it.

Van Hollen can’t simply mimic President Obama’s budget request, because that plan attracted criticism from Democrats. 

During the 2008 and 2010 wave elections, Van Hollen headed the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. His new role promises him a similar rollercoaster ride. 

---