Delay for Toomey's budget bill

Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., had been scheduled to join in the introduction of a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution about now -- as noted below -- but that announcement has been punted until after next week's Congressional recess. National Review reports that this is because Minority Leader Mitch McConnell wanted Toomey's group to make sure the entire Republican caucus is on board:

One aide tells us that McConnell urged the members at the working-group to take more time building support for the measure within the entire conference before unveiling the proposal. “He argued that it will be more powerful if we are working with the House when we introduce the [balanced-budget amendment] and that it will be more powerful if we have all 47 Republicans on board, so we need to start gathering cosponsors.”

“[McConnell] wants something all senate Republicans can get behind,” says another aide. “The question is: is that possible? And how long do we keep working within this group before just moving forward on our own?” After today’s talk, the aide adds, “a bunch of senators wanted more discussions, so the news conference was postponed.”

(H/t Colby Itkowitz)