Senate Democrats force a vote on House-passed Republican budget, put GOP in hot seat

Just a day after Democrats claimed an upset win in the New York special election to fill a historically Republican-controlled congressional seat, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., held a vote on the GOP budget as a means to force Republicans to go on the record with their support. They responded by standing by the plan to revamp Medicare.

The New York Times: Democrats Put GOP On Spot As Medicare Plan Fails
Less than 24 hours after their surprising victory in the race for a vacant House seat, Democrats forced Senate Republicans on Wednesday to vote yes or no on a bill that would reshape Medicare, signaling their intent to use the issue as a blunt instrument against Republicans through the 2012 election (Steinhauer, 5/25).

Los Angeles Times: House Republicans' Budget Plan Defeated In The Senate
The Senate roundly rejected the House GOP budget on Wednesday, with five Republicans joining most Democrats in shooting down the proposal to dramatically alter Medicare that has rattled the Republican Party (Mascaro, 5/25).

The Washington Post: Senate Republicans Stand By Plan to Overhaul Medicare
Senate Republicans on Wednesday stood by a GOP plan to transform Medicare, one day after the party lost a conservative House district in Upstate New York amid a strong effort by Democrats to make that proposal the central issue. The measure was defeated in the Democratic-run Senate on Wednesday (Kane, Goldstein and Wallstein, 5/25).

The Wall Street Journal: No Retreat On Medicare
Republican lawmakers reaffirmed Wednesday their embrace of a controversial Medicare overhaul despite an electoral setback, ensuring the federal health program will remain a divisive issue through the 2012 election. Republicans responded to Democrat Kathy Hochul's Tuesday victory in a traditionally Republican New York Congressional district by saying they needed to attack the Democrats' Medicare position more forcefully, rather than back off their own plan (Bendavid and Hook, 5/26).

McClatchy: Democratic-Led Senate Rejects House GOP Budget, Medicare Plan
The Senate on Wednesday rejected the House of Representatives' controversial Republican budget plan by 57-40, one that would dramatically revamp Medicare while cutting spending by $4.4 trillion over 10 years to reduce future federal budget deficits. The primary purpose of the vote, engineered by the Democrats who run the Senate, was to score political points. Democrats were giddy all day after they won an upset victory Tuesday in a special election for an upstate New York U.S. House seat in a historically Republican district. Winner Kathy Hochul had campaigned vigorously against the House GOP budget, charging that it would devastate Medicare (Lightman and Douglas, 5/25).

NPR: Medicare, Debt Ceiling Votes Put Lawmakers On Spot
Senate Democrats forced their GOP colleagues Wednesday to vote on a House Republican budget, getting most of those Republicans on record as backing that budget's unpopular plan to privatize Medicare. Next week in the GOP-run House, a similar show vote is planned, asking lawmakers to raise the debt ceiling — with no strings attached — a move that could put Democrats in a tight spot (Welna, 5/26).

PBS NewsHour: Senators Forced To Go On The Record On Paul Ryan's Budget Plan
Majority Leader Harry Reid forced his Senate colleagues Wednesday to show where they stand on the House Republican budget blueprint that would end Medicare as a single-payer health insurance guarantee, creating a possible political liability. The resolution failed to get the 51 votes needed to proceed, but the vote served as a marker before the 2012 elections: as the Congress and White House debate spending, where do vulnerable senators stand on keeping Medicare essentially the way it is, or turning it into a voucher system that gives seniors a check to buy private health insurance plans (Bowman, 5/25).

CNN: Senate Rejects Budget Measure Containing Medicare Overhaul
The final vote on the proposal originated by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, was 57-40, mostly along party lines. Republicans who joined the majority Democrats in opposing the measure were Scott Brown of Massachusetts, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Rand Paul of Kentucky, and Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine. Three senators didn't vote — Republicans Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas and Pat Roberts of Kansas, and Democrat Chuck Schumer of New York (Barrett and Cohen, 5/25).