10.27.11

Sessions Anticipates Senate Vote On President’s Budget

 “Given their heated rhetoric opposing spending discipline, I assume Senate Democrat leaders will happily call the president’s budget to a vote to demonstrate their support for a plan that dramatically grows our deficits and our taxes—making us less prosperous and less competitive as a result.”

             WASHINGTON—Commenting on announced Senate votes on the House-passed budget resolution and the president’s budget, U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, released the following statement:

 “Senator Reid has made a serious miscalculation if he believes bringing the House Republican Budget to the Senate will disadvantage Senate Republicans. Instead, he will only draw more attention to the fact that House Republicans have presented an honest, principled budget while the Democrat-led Senate has failed to pass a budget in more than 700 days. Senate Democrats have not even presented a resolution in the Budget Committee this year or shown any intent to do so. The only Democrat budget we can examine in the Senate is the president’s budget, which the Congressional Budget Office says doubles our nation’s entire gross debt and then lays that terrible burden upon our children. Erskin Bowles, the co-chair of the president’s own fiscal commission, said the president’s budget goes ‘nowhere near where they will have to go to resolve our fiscal nightmare.’ In light of our current challenges the president’s budget is the most irresponsible spending plan any president has put forward in our history.

By contrast, the House GOP budget spends $6.2 trillion less than the president’s, taxes $2 trillion less, and makes the necessary choices today to spare our children from painful choices tomorrow. It is the most serious attempt I have seen in my career to address our long-term fiscal problems.

Given their heated rhetoric opposing spending discipline, I assume Senate Democrat leaders will happily call the president’s budget to a vote to demonstrate their support for a plan that dramatically grows our deficits and our taxes—making us less prosperous and less competitive as a result. Even the president had to back away from his own budget with a speech that alleged $4 trillion in savings but in reality doesn’t come close to that figure. His speech repeated the same gimmicks from his existing budget while offering no new reforms and no real plan to control our deficit spending. In fact, the White House has so far refused to even put their ‘framework’ on paper. This is not the honest budgeting the American people deserve.

Nonetheless, I continue to wait and hope the president and Democrat leaders will reverse course and present an honest budget. We can’t create jobs through taxes, build prosperity through debt, or win the future with borrowed money.”

[Note: To view a letter from all Budget Committee Republicans to Chairman Conrad asking that he schedule an open mark-up, please click here. To view a letter from all Budget Committee Republicans to President Obama asking him to submit a new budget, please click here.]