Senate Republicans defeated a Democratic amendment to the proposed 2016 budget on Tuesday. Sanders, the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, had argued his plan was “deficit neutral.” Hundreds of billions in new spending would have been offset by closing a number of corporate tax breaks that allow some major companies to escape paying taxes or stash profits overseas. Republicans don’t specify a total amount of new spending and are leaving it to the Senate Finance Committee to decide how – or whether – to fund a new infrastructure program.