Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: The G20 concludes

We begin today with Paul Kane of The Washington Post reporting that the Senate might be ready to take over budget talks from the House Republicans.

Beginning with a simple resolution to keep agencies open, a bipartisan collection of senators wants to add its priorities to that bill. The group essentially is daring the divided House Republicans to oppose it and take the blame for shutting down the government if the Sept. 30 deadline has not been met.

These senators then expect to use their largely unified position as leverage to get their way in the more detailed agency funding outlines expected in the late fall, while also dominating the split House on negotiations over the annual Pentagon funding policy legislation.

In all, the Senate wants to reimpose its traditional role of regularly jamming the lower chamber into accepting its bipartisan approach to big policy matters.

“Obviously, if you’re from the House perspective, what I would say is this,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), who spent 14 years in the House before joining the Senate seven years ago. “You never like it, but you also understand why that’s going to have to be the result. Seriously. I mean, that’s the political math out here.”