Why they fight

They always say that a budget is a political document. Well, the Republicans who run Congress have been putting out their budgets, and you'll be shocked to learn that their politics is helping rich people. Or polluters. Or rich people who pollute.

After decrying these abstract costs, the GOP then makes clear what they're really upset about: Obamacare, the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform law and Environmental Protection Agency rules on carbon emissions from burning coal. No other legislation or regulatory initiative is mentioned. While the Republican budget bill decries "unnecessary red tape," the only examples it can find of such inefficiency just happen to be the signature domestic policy achievements of the Obama administration.

Surely congressional Democrats will stop this nonsense:

Remarkably, this GOP push to gut Wall Street reform, repeal Obamacare and protect polluters has garnered Democratic support in both chambers of Congress. In the Senate, corporate-friendly lawmakers including Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) have co-sponsored Republican bills that seek to saddle regulators with additional cost-benefit requirements. In the House, several conservative Democrats -- including Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wis.), co-chair of the New Democrat Coalition -- have voted for at least one version of the GOP attack on the regulatory state.

It's amazing what a few million dollars in campaign contributions can achieve. Maybe that last Starbucks coffee cup ploy -- the one that read "Come Together" -- actually worked, as long as it meant coming together for Wall Street. Luckily the only pen that matters here is not the one belonging to your Starbucks barista but President Obama's veto pen.