"Republicans often complain that they can’t get administration witnesses they want to testify. They might hear about the budget snub the next time they are pressing for an administration official to turn up." That's for sure.

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Congress Declines to Hear Obama’s Budget Proposal in Person
By Carl Hulse, February 8, 2016

The president’s budget is traditionally declared dead on arrival on Capitol Hill. This year, President Obama’s final budget proposal is just dead.

In a harsh partisan snub, the Republican chairmen of the Senate and House budget committees — Senator Michael B. Enzi of Wyoming and Representative Tom Price of Georgia — have chosen not to invite Shaun Donovan, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, to testify about the administration’s plan, set to be released on Tuesday as part of the traditional budget week festivities.

“Rather than spend time on a proposal that, if anything like this administration’s previous budgets, will double down on the same failed policies that have led to the worst economic recovery in modern times, Congress should continue our work on building a budget that balances and that will foster a healthy economy,” Mr. Price said in a statement.

Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the House Democratic leader, called the decision an insult and said it was representative of the “corrosive radicalism that has gripped congressional Republicans.” White House officials said it raised doubts about the frequent Republican leadership claims to restore “regular order” in Congress.

Mr. Obama’s budget proposal is of course not likely to please congressional Republicans, and it was never going to be adopted by the Republicans in the House and Senate. They have already expressed outrage at its proposed $10 a barrel tax on oil. But to refuse to hear from Mr. Donovan seems an extreme break with the usual conventions of Capitol Hill and it denies the Republicans a chance to try to pummel him and the budget at a televised hearing. They typically enjoy that.

Republicans often complain that they can’t get administration witnesses they want to testify. They might hear about the budget snub the next time they are pressing for an administration official to turn up.

Aides to Speaker Paul D. Ryan, a former Budget Committee chairman, said the decision had been made at the discretion of the budget chairman.
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