WASHINGTON, Feb. 9 – The Democrats on the Senate Budget Committee sent a letter to Chairman Mike Enzi today expressing their disappointment over the chairman’s unprecedented decision to not hold a hearing on the president’s Fiscal Year 2017 budget request.

This is the first time in the committee’s history that it has not held a hearing to discuss the president’s budget. Even in 2004, when all Senate office buildings closed because of the presence of the toxin ricin in a Senate office, the Senate Budget Committee held a hearing on the president’s budget request.

“This year, with no unusual circumstances to prevent us from doing our work, we have been provided with no reasonable explanation for the decision not to hold a hearing. Furthermore, this decision runs counter to repeated calls by the majority for regular order in the Senate. Instead, we are faced with overt partisanship when we should be addressing important issues that face our country,” the members wrote

For the full text of the letter, click here.