Chairman’s News Articles
During my first term in the U.S. Senate, Congress and the White House tackled what then-House Speaker Tip O’Neill had dubbed the third rail of politics: Social Security. That’s because those who spoke up about Social Security’s finances invariably learned the topic was political kryptonite. But President Ronald Reagan and Speaker O’Neill changed the narrative. […]
In 1984, when faced with $200 billion deficits and a national debt nearing $2 trillion, an emphatic Democrat Sen. Joe Biden warned of “economic disaster” unless Congress took “dramatic actions on deficits right now.” He was advocating for a government-wide spending freeze – a bipartisan proposal that he and I led to restore fiscal restraint to the […]
Rushing back into the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also called the Iran nuclear deal, would be a singularly seismic event leading to chaos and instability in the Middle East.
The current situation at our southern border is unnerving. Despite recent claims by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas that there is no crisis at our southern border, there is a major crisis brewing due to the misguided policies of the Biden administration. Whether it is the Biden administration’s reversal of the Remain in Mexico policy, […]
The economic damage wrought by the pandemic has revealed many things, and one glaring issue is the importance of an effective federal housing assistance system. Unfortunately, as millions of Americans are learning firsthand, we don’t have that. The Senate Budget Committee, which I chair, just released what we hope is a meaningful report showing how the federal […]
OPINION — It is no secret that a vast majority of Americans disapprove of the job Congress is doing. Too often our political debates are characterized by hyperpartisanship, rather than achieving meaningful outcomes for the American people. Nowhere is this problem more acute than when it comes to our inability to address our country’s unsustainable […]
The problem stems from an aging population and rising health care costs – not from the 2017 tax reform. BY MIKE ENZI SPECIAL TO THE PRESS HERALD A recent editorial (“Our View: Deficit would be zero if not for tax cuts,” Aug. 11) criticizing tax relief for American families and job creators makes a number […]
This week the Senate Budget Committee will consider a budget plan that will reduce deficits by half a trillion dollars over the next five years. The budget does not presume to solve all of our fiscal challenges. We’ve seen past plans with that aspiration, all of which have been ignored within weeks. This time we are calling for Congress to […]
Enshrined in our Constitution is one of Congress’ most important responsibilities—the power of the purse. This requires lawmakers in Washington to review each and every dollar spent to ensure that the federal government is accountable to the American people. The most common way for Congress to exercise this power is through the annual appropriations process, […]
Imagine a financial institution that loans out a trillion dollars to students and families across America, but regularly ignores government regulations and uses questionable accounting practices. On top of that, this institution is actually being run by the federal government. What you have isn’t just a terrible idea, it’s the largest “bank” in America that the public has never heard of, and it’s inside the U.S. Department of Education.
Imagine a financial institution that loans out a trillion dollars to students and families across America, but regularly ignores government regulations and uses questionable accounting practices. On top of that, this institution is actually being run by the federal government. What you have isn’t just a terrible idea, it’s the largest “bank” in America that the public has never heard of, and it’s inside the U.S. Department of Education.
Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi highlghts bipartisan solutions to fix America's broken budget process and breakthrough Washignton's budget gridlock.
Probably the worst kept secret in Washington is that America’s budget process is broken
The recent spending and debt deal clearly illustrates that the federal budget process is in serious need of reform. America’s current budget challenges are directly related to this breakdown and fixing it can put the country on a more responsible spending path going forward.
Congress recently approved its first balanced 10-year budget since 2001, which represented an important step toward putting our country on not just another course, but a better course. This balanced budget represents a “lean in” moment for a Congress under new management, to confront rapidly growing deficits borne from our government’s habitual overspending, which plagues America and its taxpayers.
Last week, Congress began the monumental task of confronting our nation’s chronic overspending and exploding debt, which threaten each and every American. Make no mistake, our fiscal outlook is grim and has been ignored for far too long. But we have a profound moral responsibility to help taxpayers see the true picture of our country’s […]