As expected, the “sense of the Senate” resolution that called for shared sacrifice — Newspeak for increasing taxes on the rich — has fallen to defeat on a procedural vote.  The resolution introduced by Harry Reid and co-sponsored by such moderates as Bernie Sanders and Sheldon Whitehouse couldn’t even keep the Democratic caucus united, as the vote fell in danger of not even attracting a majority, 51/49.  Ben Nelson (D-NE) and Mark Pryor (D-AR) both voted against cloture.

In case you think I was kidding about Newspeak, here’s the bill’s text it its entirety:

Calendar No. 93112th CONGRESS1st SessionS. 1323

To express the sense of the Senate on shared sacrifice in resolving the budget deficit.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

June 30, 2011

Mr. REID introduced the following bill; which was read twice and ordered to be placed on the calendar

A BILL

To express the sense of the Senate on shared sacrifice in resolving the budget deficit.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SENSE OF THE SENATE ON SHARED SACRIFICE.

(a) Findings- Congress makes the following findings:

• (1) The Wall Street Journal reports that median pay for chief financial officers of S&P 500 companies increased 19 percent to $2,900,000 last year.

• (2) Over the past 10 years, the median family income has declined by more than $2,500.

• (3) Twenty percent of all income earned in the United States is earned by the top 1 percent of individuals.

• (4) Over the past quarter century, four-fifths of the income gains accrued to the top 1 percent of individuals.

(b) Sense of the Senate- It is the sense of the Senate that any agreement to reduce the budget deficit should require that those earning $1,000,000 or more per year make a more meaningful contribution to the deficit reduction effort.

Calendar No. 93

Actually, in looking at the IRS statistics from 2008 (the latest year available), the top 4.2% of returns came from those making $1 million or more in taxable income. They made 14% of the adjusted gross income reported to the IRS — and they paid 24.1% of all the income tax revenues the IRS received.   Those who made more than $10 million accounted for 5.2% of the adjusted gross income reported to the IRS, 0.015% of the returns — and 8.1% of the total amount paid in income tax.

Sounds like shared sacrifice to me.

Since Reid and Co. seem so interest in shared sacrifice, however, would it be too much of a sacrifice to ask them to produce an actual budget?  While they’re at it, maybe they should sacrifice some of their spending instead of conducting class warfare to confiscate more private capital.