House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan’s (R., Wis.) proposals to solve the country’s debt and deficit crisis continue to be far more popular with elected officials than those put forward by President Obama.
The Democratic-led Senate on Wednesday unanimously rejected the president’s fiscal year 2013 budget by final vote of 99-0. Sen. Mark Kirk (R., Ill.), who has been recovering from a stroke, did not vote; it is presumed he would have voted no.
The Senate last year voted down the president’s budget 97-0.
Not a single federal lawmaker has voted in favor of Obama’s budget proposals over the past two years. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office recently concluded that the president’s budget, if enacted, would have a negative impact on long-term economic growth.
Ryan’s proposals, which have twice passed the U.S. House of Representatives, have received a total of 544 affirmative votes, with 41 Senators voting ‘yes’ on Wednesday. Last year, 40 Senators supported Ryan’s plan.
Ryan’s budget passed the House with 235 ‘yes’ votes in 2011. In March, 228 lawmakers voted for his updated proposal. The House also considered Obama’s most recent budget, rejecting it 414-0.
Senate Democrats, meanwhile, have not proposed a budget in more than three years.
Prior to the vote on Wednesday, White House press secretary Jay Carney described it as "yet another gimmick."