McConnell objects ‘for today’ to Reid plan to allow for amendment to FY 2011 spending bill

After the procedural debate, Reid spoke at length about his opposition to H.R. 1, and said the Senate intends in some way or another to dispose of that bill.

“We set up a procedure, it was agreed on in the vice president’s office, to get this H.R. 1 out of the way,” Reid said. “Everyone knows it’s not going to pass. It’s a very, very, difficult, bad piece of legislation. We’ll get rid of that, we’ll do what we think is responsible — cut spending by $51 billion, and not have all those mean-spirited riders that are attached to H.R. 1.”

The Democrats are proposing to cut $51 billion from the Obama administration’s FY 2011 budget proposal, but Republicans are pointing out that this is only a $6.5 billion cut from current spending levels. Many Republicans have said this is essentially the status quo, and are demanding deeper cuts.