Senate Democrats were expected to present a budget resolution for markup this week, but delayed it yet again after the White House decided to call two budget summits on Wednesday and Thursday. It’s not clear why yet another meeting is necessary, but it does enable the Democrats to put off their budget’s release date and allow them to continue attacking the GOP proposal. Now it looks as if this political game will continue for at least another week.

“In its rhetoric the White House calls for a responsible budget but refuses to present one,” said Sen. Jeff Sessions in a press statement. “No amount of closed-door meetings, commissions, or summits will change the basic fact that in order to move forward the White House and the Democrat Senate must put forward an honest plan that ends the Washington spending spree instead of raising taxes to pay for it.”

Whether or not you agree with the Republican proposals, the foot-dragging by Democrats at every turn has been unhelpful to the debate. If they truly believe that the GOP budget is as bad as they claim, then why won’t they release their own? The fact that they keep procrastinating indicates that they’re worried about the reaction from both fellow Democrats and voters.

“That Senate Democrats still have not released a budget suggests that either there’s a large division in the caucus or they are uncomfortable sharing their tax-and-spending agenda with the American people—perhaps because they rightly fear the public would reject them,” a Republican congressional aide close to the issue told me.

If this is the case, Senate Democrats can only dodge that outcome for so long. Dragging it out might seem politically expedient at the moment, but they’re only going to end up angering the vast majority of Americans who want to get this issue resolved.