Ezra Klein Explains Why Senate Republicans Voted for Ryan's Plan
Ezra:
Wonkbook: Why did Senate Republicans vote for Ryan's plan?: The big story isn't that Ryan's budget failed in the Senate. It's that it only lost the votes of five Republican senators. That's a remarkable show of party unity on behalf of a budget that can't pass, is deeply unpopular, and is largely blamed for the GOP's defeat in New York's 26th district.... Perhaps Senate Republicans really, truly believe in Ryan's framework. But since it's not passing, and about 40 of the Republicans who voted for the budget expressed interest in modifying it or finding an alternative, it seems difficult to hang this one entirely on conviction. More likely is that most Senate Republicans are, for the moment, more afraid of their base than of their voters.... For Democrats, of course, this is perhaps the best of all possible worlds. The Ryan plan won't pass, so they don't need to worry about it actually becoming law, but almost every Republican incumbent Republican has voted for it, making it a legitimate campaign issue in races all across the country...
