07.16.12

Sessions Reproaches Admin For Withholding Legally Mandated Budget Update

“This makes a more significant statement than the President’s recent speeches and interviews professing his vigilant stewardship of the nation. Combined with $5 trillion in debt accrued since 2009, and the refusal of his Senate Majority to produce a budget for three years in the midst of crisis, it reveals a troubling detachment from the financial future of our Republic.”

WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today on the failure of President Obama’s Office of Management and Budget to submit the legally required mid-year budget update to Congress:

“Americans across the political spectrum agree that our country needs a sound financial plan in this dangerous hour. To develop a plan for prosperity, the nation must have good and current financial data. Yet the President has ignored the legal requirement to send his updated budget to Congress. This makes a more significant statement than the President’s recent speeches and interviews professing his vigilant stewardship of the nation. Combined with $5 trillion in debt accrued since 2009, and the refusal of his Senate Majority to produce a budget for three years in the midst of crisis, it reveals a troubling detachment from the financial future of our Republic.

We must worry about the failure to issue this required report. The plain fact is that the economy is not doing well. The slow growth over the past 28 months has declined significantly in the last quarter. An updated budget plan will help us understand how deep our debt problem is and how it will impact the proposal he submitted in February. Good leadership requires the President to be in constant communication with Congress and the American people over the financial status of the nation.”

NOTE: The text of the statute requiring the Mid-Session Review follows:

§ 1106. Supplemental budget estimates and changes

(a) Before July 16 of each year, the President shall submit to Congress a supplemental summary of the budget for the fiscal year for which the budget is submitted under section 1105(a) of this title. The summary shall include--

(1) for that fiscal year--

(A) substantial changes in or reappraisals of estimates of expenditures and receipts;

(B) substantial obligations imposed on the budget after its submission;

(C) current information on matters referred to in section 1105(a)(8) and (9)(B) and (C) of this title; and

(D) additional information the President decides is advisable to provide Congress with complete and current information about the budget and current estimates of the functions, obligations, requirements, and financial condition of the United States Government;

(2) for the 4 fiscal years following the fiscal year for which the budget is submitted, information on estimated expenditures for programs authorized to continue in future years, or that are considered mandatory, under law; and

(3) for future fiscal years, information on estimated expenditures of balances carried over from the fiscal year for which the budget is submitted.

(b) Before July 16 of each year, the President shall submit to Congress a statement of changes in budget authority requested, estimated budget outlays, and estimated receipts for the fiscal year for which the budget is submitted (including prior changes proposed for the executive branch of the Government) that the President decides are necessary and appropriate based on current information. The statement shall include the effect of those changes on the information submitted under section 1105(a)(1) to (14) and (b) of this title and shall include supporting information as practicable. The statement submitted before July 16 may be included in the information submitted under subsection (a)(1) of this section.