Sitting in a defensive crouch for months at a time can get a little uncomfortable, and several Senate Democrats are finally starting to rouse themselves. In the last weeks, there have been some tiny but tantalizing hints that at least a few senators want to offer an alternative to the Republican cost-cutting frenzy and talk about ways to cut sensibly and help put people back to work.

Last week, 41 Senate Democrats wrote letters to President Obama urging him to resist the Republican effort to sharply cut and transform Medicaid, the joint federal and state health program that primarily benefits poor children and pregnant women, disabled adults, and nursing home residents. Several senators have also broken through the wall of fear in Washington that prohibits discussion of stimulus spending.

These actions might seem unremarkable by Democrats in an ordinary year, but those in the Senate have largely been invisible in the current Congress, cowed by a noisy Republican majority in the House and afraid of losing their three-vote edge in the 2012 elections. Senate Democrats will not even put their priorities on the record by producing a budget, leaving it to the White House to negotiate with the House on matters like the debt ceiling.

The Republicans are desperate to show Tea Party voters that they can land a blow on an entitlement program. Medicare cuts are a political loser, but Medicaid — serving a far less powerful clientele than the middle class — has become highly vulnerable to their ax. Paul Ryan, the House budget chairman, has proposed turning Medicaid into a block grant program, giving states lump sums that could not possibly keep pace with rising costs, and allowing states the flexibility to drop coverage for millions.