In the wake of last week’s vote by the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives to continue funding federal government operations for the rest of the 2011 fiscal year, while making the largest single discretionary spending cut in the history of the nation, U.S. Senate Democrat Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) gave his pronouncement today on how much Senate Democrats would be willing to cut federal spending and the answer is – nothing.

Senator Reid announced today that instead of considering the spending cuts passed by the House, he will instead introduce another short-term continuing resolution (CR) that would lock in the status quo spending levels which increased 24 percent over the past two years

Following Senator Reid’s announcement today, the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) called on U.S. Senator Herb Kohl (D-WI) to tell the people of Wisconsin whether he intends to stand with his liberal party leaders in opposing cuts to federal spending or whether he will ask them to consider the House-passed CR, which includes roughly $100 billion in spending cuts.

“Senator Kohl has told Wisconsinites time and again that he supports reining in government spending and forcing the federal government to operate more efficiently, yet since he took office in 1989 the federal debt has grown by almost $12 trillion,” NRSC Press Secretary Chris Bond said today. “In light of his party leadership’s opposition to cutting federal spending, attention once again focuses on Herb Kohl. Will he once again toe the party line, stand with his liberal party leaders and support the status quo, which includes a 24 percent increase in federal spending over just the last two years? Or will he finally stand up for the Wisconsin families and small businesses who will be forced to pay for our massive federal debt?

“Last November, the American people spoke loud and clear: stop the Washington spending spree and bring down the debt. Senator Kohl’s response to Senator Reid’s statement today will make it very clear whether or not he understands that message. We look forward to hearing what he has to say,” Bond concluded.