Why Does Congress Approve Obama's Budget?

In today's Washington Post, there's an article about Congressional Democrats overwhelmingly accepting Obama's "ambitious and expensive agenda for the nation yesterday, endorsing a $3.5 trillion spending plan that sets the stage for the president to pursue his most far-reaching priorities. " See the whole article here http://tinyurl.com/dl9wk2 . A couple of Maryland Congressional members are quoted in the article (Sen. Benjamin Cardin (Dem), Rep. Chris Van Hollen, (Dem).) It also says voting was nearly straight down party lines with only a total of 22 Dems voting with the Republicans. The vote was 233-196 in the house with only 20 Democrats siding with the Republicans and 55-43 in the Senate with all but 2 Dems voting Yes.

Now, some of you may have caught on that I'm a Republican and regularly work for the GOP. The Republican response wasn't so happy. "Republicans blasted the Democratic budget as a reckless manifesto that would greatly expand the size of government and double the national debt within five years. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Rep-KY) said he feared the consequences of a budget that 'calls for a dramatic and potentially irreversible shift of our nation to the left in the areas of health care, education and private enterprise.' "

My question is, When are our legislators going to vote FOR the State and not for Republican or against Democrat, for Obama or against Bush? Do they lose votes from their constituents when they vote their hearts? I've voted Democrat when I think that the democratic contender was the better person for the job. I've also voted Republican for the same reason. I vote for who or what I think is the best choice for our State and our Country. Am I completely naive to think that our government should do the same?


And in less likely news, the Onion - source of all the best and funniest news (though highly unlikely to be true), http://tinyurl.com/cuomht "Congress Forced To Watch Training Video About Bipartisan Cooperation."