Showdown in the Senate

It looks like Dick "Dick" Cheney was needed to break the tie for the neo-con Republicans to pass their immoral budget.

The measure, the product of a year's labors by the White House and the GOP in Congress, imposes the first restraints in nearly a decade in federal benefit programs such as Medicaid, Medicare and student loans.

"This is the one vote you'll have this year to reduce the rate of growth of the federal government," said Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, in a final plea for passage.

But Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada countered that the GOP was advancing "an ideologically driven, extreme, radical budget. It caters to lobbyists and an elite group of ultraconservative ideologues here in Washington, all at the expense of middle class Americans," he said.

Did you catch the first sentence in the article excerpt? Here it is again just to hit home the point on the priorities of the Republican-led Congress:

The measure, the product of a year's labors by the White House and the GOP in Congress, imposes the first restraints in nearly a decade in federal benefit programs such as Medicaid, Medicare and student loans.

A year's labor. Nice. Can we all agree now that they are leading our country down the crapper?

[UPDATE] Susanhu has much more on today's fight on the Hill, including details of the Democratic-led filibuster on arctic drilling in Alaska.