Senate GOP passes budget framework

WASHINGTON - Senate Republicans celebrated on Tuesday after passing the first joint budget resolution in more than five years, but that success is just the start of the much more difficult task of funding the government.

Republicans said the next step will be for the Appropriations Committee to start drafting spending bills that meet the newly approved framework, which means cutting $496 billion in nondefense spending over the next decade. The budget adheres to domestic spending caps included in the 2011 Budget Control Act, also known as the sequester and uses nearly $40 billion in off-budget funds to boost defense spending to over $563 billion.

No Democrats voted for the budget resolution. President Obama has vowed to veto any funding bills that fall within the framework. And even as the budget passed, most Republicans acknowledged that it will be impossible to meet their own standards. But Republican leaders insisted that they would try anyway.

"Our only tool is the funding process, and we're going to try to do that," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) said in an interview. "It will be challenging, but we're going to try to delay, rein in, restrict various bureaucratic overreach through the appropriation bills that spend the money."

McConnell acknowledged that the process will start fights and would likely be difficult to pass but his plan is to proceed with the process of trying to advance deep-cutting spending bills. A spokesman for Appropriations Committee Chairman Sen. Thad Cochran (R., Miss.) said he plans to start considering a dozen funding bills in a matter of weeks.

Republicans may be able to get through the committee process but the chances of advancing legislation that closely adheres to their budget blueprint is nearly impossible. Unlike in the House, where Republicans have enough votes to easily advance spending bills without the help of Democrats, the Senate will need the backing of at least six senators to bring their bills up for a vote.

Democrats vowed to block deep funding cuts for medical research, food stamps, housing programs for low-income workers and cuts to the federal Pell grant program for students. Instead they are calling on Republicans to help craft a plan to lift the spending caps for both domestic and military spending.