Coming soon to a Senate race near you: ugly attack ads slamming Republicans for voting to privatize Medicare, while Democrats get blasted for pushing new carbon taxes on everyday Americans.

Welcome to the 2016 election after the Senate’s budget “vote-a-rama,” where senators cast dozens of votes, failed to change one law, and yet still gave their campaign committees an arsenal of political ammunition.


Because the budget is a nonbinding blueprint, all the “yeas” and “nays” from the vote-a-rama didn’t have any real-world impact. But the dozens of ballots gave each party a chance to make the other look bad. Democrats forced the GOP to take positions on issues spanning from climate change to the minimum wage. Not to be outdone, Republicans scored some points by forcing Democrats to vote against tax cuts and their own living-wage proposal.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and National Republican Senatorial Committee have already fired opening shots based off budget votes, as they compile the list of roll calls they’ll use in advertisements against senators up for reelection. Those budget votes could be fodder for attack ads against senators in swing states — including Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and Mark Kirk (R-Ill.).

Here’s a look at the votes from last week that will likely have a long political shelf-life:

Equal pay

On pay equity, Democrats and Republicans tried different strategies to woo female voters.

The two sides offered dueling amendments aimed at narrowing the pay gap between men and women — but with different ways of getting there.

The Democrats’ version, like their much-touted Paycheck Fairness Act that was blocked by the GOP in past years, makes it easier for women to sue for punitive damages and bans retaliation against employees for sharing salary information.

But Republicans have argued that the Democratic plan would be a litigation bonanza. To counter, the GOP offered up a proposal from Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) that also tries to stop retaliation against workers who discuss salary details but has no lawsuit provision.

Fischer called her measure a “reasonable, fact-based approach,” but Democrats begged to differ. During the floor debate, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) called the Democratic plan “the only proposal on the table right now” that would help close the gender pay gap.

Fischer’s amendment passed with all Republicans and two Senate Democrats voting in favor: Joe Donnelly of Indiana and independent Angus King of Maine. No Republicans sided with Democrats on their pay equity bill, and King voted against it as well.

Medicare

“Ending Medicare as we know it” has been a Democratic refrain ever since Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) introduced his plan to dramatically reform the health care program for seniors — and this election cycle will be no exception.

Democrats — led by Bennet, the sole vulnerable Democrat running for reelection next year — put up an amendment that would make it tougher to turn Medicare into something resembling Ryan’s so-called “premium support” plan. Ryan’s proposal has been a central plank of House GOP orthodoxy since he introduced it, but Democrats say it turns Medicare into a voucher-like system that amounts to privatizing the entitlement program.

Senate GOP moderates including Susan Collins of Maine and Dean Heller of Nevada voted with Democrats. But neither is up for reelection in 2016.

So the DSCC wasted no time blasting out a memo hitting Republicans in competitive races — such as Portman, Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin — over the vote.

“As their elections draw closer, these vulnerable incumbents will employ lots of tricky rhetoric and careful dodges on a variety of issues,” the memo read. “But perhaps none will be as egregious as their attempts to hide their votes to end Medicare as we know it.”

But Republicans may have some cover on this one. Virginia Democratic Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine both voted with the GOP to reject Bennet’s proposal.

Paid sick leave

Voting against paid sick leave could easily have turned into an attack ad — but vulnerable Republicans, for the most part, deftly sidestepped it.

In one of the more surprising results of the marathon vote-a-rama, 15 GOP senators backed a Democratic proposal that would allow workers to earn paid sick leave from employers. A half-dozen of them — Kirk, Johnson, Portman, Ayotte, Richard Burr of North Carolina and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania — are in the most competitive races of 2016.

Toomey and Johnson actually switched their votes on the floor — and Democrats were quick to note that they gave the provision a filibuster-proof supermajority of support. Aides for Toomey and Johnson said the senators voted against the amendment initially by mistake.

Sen. Kelly Ayotte faces a difficult 2016 race. | Getty

“I am thrilled that the Senate showed strong support … for expanding access to paid sick days and giving more families some much-needed economic stability,” Murray said after the vote.

The amendment could also come into play in the 2016 presidential race. Though swing-state Republicans largely sided with Democrats on this vote, all four Republicans mulling presidential bids — Ted Cruz of Texas, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Marco Rubio of Florida — voted against the measure.

Increasing wages

Both sides took shots at each other over stagnant wages.

Democrats forced Republicans to vote against an amendment that would “substantially” increase the minimum wage by an unspecified amount. It failed 48-52, with vulnerable Republican Portman and centrist Collins voting in favor.

“The simple truth is that in America, people working full time should not be living in poverty,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). “Let us stand today with the tens of millions of workers who are struggling to put food on the table, to take care of their families. Let us raise the minimum wage.”

But Republicans came to the party prepared and aware this issue could hurt them. They offered their own version of a wage-increasing proposal: a Kirk amendment “reaffirming the ability of states to adopt minimum wages higher than the Federal minimum wage level.”

The chamber agreed, 57-43, to the amendment, which, true to conservative philosophy, also suggests states grow wages by adopting “pro-employment and wage-increasing policies” such as “pro-growth” tax reform and by “eliminating excessive government mandates.”

And although Democrats Tom Carper of Delaware and Claire McCaskill of Missouri, and King, an independent, signed on with Republicans, the NRSC singled out Bennet for not voting for the GOP-written provision.

Taxes, taxes, taxes

Both parties also fired salvos over taxes.

Republicans forced Democrats to vote against a proposal to eliminate the estate tax on inheritance — a levy Republicans love to hate and have nicknamed the “death tax.” The chamber adopted it, 54-46, with Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Collins swapping sides to vote with the other party.

Republicans say the estate tax, a 40 percent levy on inherited property valued over $5.5 million for a single person, too often hits farmers or ranchers who pass their livelihood from generation to generation. With Bennet voting against the Republican amendment, he’s sure to get dinged for it given his home state’s farming industry.

Republicans also made Democrats take an uncomfortable vote on an amendment to ensure no tax is levied on carbon emissions, a policy proposal President Barack Obama and the Democrats have floated before as part of a cap-and-trade system. It was adopted, 58-42, with four Democrats — Donnelly, McCaskill, Manchin and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota — crossing party lines to vote with Republicans.

Just minutes after the vote, the NRSC blasted Bennet for voting against it.

“Sen. Bennet’s vote could raise the price of energy on Colorado families and cost 52,000 hard-working Coloradans their jobs,” said NRSC spokesman Matt Connelly. “It’s time for Sen. Bennet to put Coloradans first and stop towing the line for left-wing groups that don’t have Coloradans’ best interests in mind.”

But Democrats threw a few tax punches at Republicans. They forced GOP lawmakers to vote against an amendment to end tax breaks that they say gives companies an incentive to move jobs overseas. And a Jack Reed (D-R.I.) amendment would have ended tax deductions for corporate executives earning more than $1 million.

Both were rejected on party lines.

“We all know there are companies that, unfortunately, are able to game the system to avoid paying their taxes,” said Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), referring to the recent uptick in corporations relocating to other countries for tax reasons. “This is about closing [loopholes] for the tax cheaters who are avoiding stepping up and being a part of solving America’s problems.”

Both tax amendments are among the list of votes that the DSCC will likely use to taunt Republicans during election season.