Democrats fell far short of the 60 votes they needed for their bill to avoid today’s sequestration. The bill was by all Republicans as well as by several vulnerable Democrats from red states.

But Wisconsin’s new senator voted "yes"… even though the measure would had added $7.2 billion to the federal deficit over ten years, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

From NRO:

"CBO estimates that S. 388 would increase direct spending by $62.4 billion and revenues by $55.1 billion over the 2013–2023 period. Thus, the cumulative deficit would increase by $7.2 billion from those changes," CBO wrote in a report.

The Democratic bill would replace the $85 billion in automatic cuts scheduled to take effect on Friday with a mixture of tax increases and spending cuts to defense programs and farm subsidies. However, those spending cuts would be phased in over a ten-year period, whereas the sequestration cuts would occur this year.

 For Baldwin, apparently a "balanced" approach to deficit reduction means raising both taxes… and spending.