BUDGET/DEMS/HOUSE OF REPS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “House Democrats formally punted on releasing a budget blueprint on Tuesday [4-2-19], instead unveiling a bill that would increase military and domestic spending caps by more than $350 billion over the next two years. The proposal frustrated fiscal hawks on both sides of the aisle and Democrats on the party’s left flank who balked at the prospect of increasing military spending. It also meant that House Democrats, without a blueprint to counter the one the Trump administration released last month, had effectively opted out of outlining their own budget priorities in the face of a divided government and division within their caucus. Several Democratic lawmakers and aides argued that with a Republican-controlled Senate and White House, it would be futile to release a budget resolution, a nonbinding document that usually serves as a statement of priorities as opposed to actual policy. There is little chance that the budget proposals put forward by the Trump administration and the Senate Budget Committee could prevail in the House.”
–Emily Cochrane, “House Democrats Punt on Budget Resolution, Turning Instead to Spending Increases,” The New York Times online, April 2, 2019