The last time the federal government had a budget in place and signed by the president was Sept of 2007 for fiscal year 2008, and it was signed by George Bush.  President Obama has NEVER had a day in office with a budget in place to restrict or guide spending proposals.  Not.One.Day.

WASHINGTON DC – Senate Democrats will not write a budget for the next fiscal year.

One year after writing and passing the first Senate Democratic budget  resolution in four years, Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray  (D-Wash.) said her conference will not make an effort in the 2014 midterm  election year.

In a statement, Murray said there was no reason to do a fiscal 2015 budget after  the two-year deal struck in December with House Budget Committee Chairman Paul  Ryan (R-Wis.).

That deal set budget ceilings for the 2014 and 2015 fiscal years. The 2015  fiscal year begins on Oct. 1.

“Fiscal Year 2015 is settled, the Appropriations Committees are already  working with their bipartisan spending levels, and now we should work together  to build on our two-year bipartisan budget, not create more uncertainty for  families and businesses by immediately relitigating it,” Murray said.

“I went into my negotiations with Chairman Ryan hoping we could give the  American people some much needed certainty after years of lurching to crisis to  crisis, and I was very glad that our two-year budget deal accomplished that,”  she added.

House Republicans are planning to do a budget, however. Speaker John Boehner  (R-Ohio) said Thursday he “expects” it to be done.

That will set up a contrast with the Senate, where Republicans for years  criticized Democrats for not doing a budget.

The decision by Murray was expected given the budget deal and the politically  delicate task of writing and passing a budget.

Democrats are trying to hold on to their Senate majority in a difficult year,  and the decision to abandon the budget means Democrats in difficult races will  avoid some tough votes.   (read more)