Democrats Have Nothing to Offer to Control the Budget

Democrats are trying to rope-a-dope John Boehner and the GOP, but he isn't playing:

Democrats announced Wednesday that with a spending shutdown averted for two weeks, Republicans should now come and meet with Vice President Joe Biden and Democratic leaders to talk about funding the government for the remaining 26 weeks of the fiscal year.

 House Speaker John Boehner made it clear that negotiations on spending couldn’t begin until the Senate had taken a position. While the White House and congressional Democrats say they want to talk it out, Boehner wants to play poker.

Boehner has laid down his hand – a House-passed plan to cut $61 billion from spending for the rest of the year. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, meanwhile, hasn’t shown much other than his disdain for Boehner’s cuts.

The strength of Reid’s hand was revealed a bit on Wednesday when a House-proposed stopgap measure with prorated cuts of $4 billion for two weeks sailed through the Senate with 91 votes. There is little appetite in Reid’s caucus for forcing a shutdown in order to avoid cuts.

But the Senate still hasn’t answered the House on the longer-term plan.

Wednesday’s announcement that President Obama and Reid wanted Republicans to come to negotiations directed by Biden fell flat. With no Democratic plan on the table, Republicans scoffed at the idea of making a counterproposal. The GOP is still waiting for Democrats, especially the White House, to show its cards.

The White House plan is simple: Wait for the GOP to propose dramatic cuts and then demagogue their plan. Obama is not interested in cutting the budget, he's only interested in slamming any GOP plan that does.

Boehner is playing this thing exactly right.