Harry Reid in February 2010 (Photo: reid.senate.gov)

Earlier today, Senate Republicans reneged on a deal that would have brought both the Democratic and Republican spending proposals up for a vote on the Senate floor. Why did the GOP back out of the deal? Apparently, they like talking about cutting spending in general, but when it comes to actually doing it, they'd rather not go on record as being in favor of kicking hundreds of thousands of kids out of Head Start and eliminating billions in research funding for alternative energy.

Despite the GOP's objections, Harry Reid is pushing ahead:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is promising an up-or-down vote on the $61 billion in budget cuts passed by House Republicans — just to show that version of the spending bill is “dead” – even if the upper chamber has to debate until 1 a.m. to prove the point. “I hope we have a vote on this today,” said Reid to reporters. “If not, we’re going to go through all this procedural process. They cannot stop us from having a vote on H.R. 1. [the Republican spending bill] We want the American people to know that H.R. 1 is dead, and we’ll get there.”

This is a good move. Even though neither bill will pass, it's important getting these guys on record, with votes they can't deny. To do otherwise is to essentially give them a free pass, letting them advocate policies that they know they'll never have to defend when the campaign rolls around.

Reid also said he'd had enough of the GOP's short-term stop-gap approach towards budgeting.

What Reid said that he would not support, however, is another short-term stopgap funding measure while congressional leaders negotiate a long-term spending plan. “We have to get the long term done. Long term is becoming short-term,” said Reid. “We’re down to about six months now.”

On this front, Reid's actually starting to force Republican movement. Last week, they were talking about trying to fund government one week at a time after the first stop-gap that passed last week. Now, they're talking about a one-month measure. That shift represents a crack in the GOP armor. Perhaps Republicans are beginning to realize that they aren't going to get their spending bill through Congress. The only question is whether they shut the government down while trying.