2010 budget resolution

The fact that the House and Senate both passed their versions of the 2010 congressional budget resolution last night will likely be of grave concern to congressional, and probably a few presidential, Republicans.

The reason is not the substance of what was adopted by the House and Senate: that will continue to be rhetorical fodder for the GOP.

And it's not the fact that Congress looks like it is well on its way to getting a budget resolution adopted for the third consecutive year.  That's important, but mostly in an inside-the-beltway kind of way that won't be much of a topic of conversation beyond the blogosphere.

What's important about the 2010 budget resolution, and what has to be the primary concern for Republicans this morning, is that the Obama White House has shown that it knows how to win on Capital Hill.  The budget resolution was the administration's second major legislative achievement in 10 weeks.

Here's this week's "Fiscal Fitness" column from Roll Call.

Strike Up the Band: 3 Budget Resolutions in 3 Straight Years

March 31, 2009
By Stan Collender
Roll Call Contributing Writer

I shouldn’t have to write this week’s “Fiscal Fitness.”

Please understand. I’m not complaining about having the opportunity to write the column. I’m also certainly not upset about Roll Call continuing to think the federal budget is important enough that it needs to devote some serious real estate to the topic. And the fact that I could be writing about the soon-to-start baseball season or the ridiculous casting on this season’s “Dancing With the Stars” instead of fiscal policy doesn’t merit a protest.