WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today regarding the military pension provision in the omnibus: “I was pleased that the House-Senate package includes a provision restoring the pensions for disabled veterans, after we called attention to the fact that wounded warriors would be impacted by […]
Senate Budget Committee Republican staff, in consultation with the Committee’s Democratic staff, have identified at least four budget points of order that lie against Sen. Jack Reed’s amendment #2631 to S. 1845 (the Emergency Unemployment Compensation Extension Act) for violating the FY 2014 deemed spending levels in the Ryan-Murray package. The points of order, which […]
WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, delivered the following prepared remarks on the Senate floor yesterday addressing the issue of persistent, long-term unemployment: Today, President Obama delivered remarks on the growing problem of poverty and chronic unemployment that has occurred during the five years of his presidency. Just this […]
WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement on the December jobs report: “Today’s jobs report underscores a deeper problem facing our economy: a large and growing block of people who are chronically jobless and completely outside the workforce. In December, the economy added only 74,000 jobs […]
“It represents an admission that five years of tax, spend, borrow, and regulate have produced economic misery for countless Americans.” WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today in response to President Obama’s address on chronic unemployment: “The President today announced five ‘promise zones’ scattered throughout […]
“Majority Leader Reid rushed through this closed-door deal without a single amendment.” WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement tonight after the Senate voted 64-36 to adopt the Ryan-Murray spending package: “I appreciate the earnest work that went into crafting this proposal and the sincere policy […]
WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement tonight after the Senate voted 46-54 not to table Reid’s amendments that ‘filled the tree’ in order to allow actual amendments to the Ryan-Murray budget deal: “Today, Reid and his majority quashed the ability of any Senator to offeramendments […]
WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today regarding a provision in the so-called Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 that cuts the pensions of disabled military veterans to fuel much larger spending increases elsewhere: “It has been asserted that the controversial change to military retirees’ pensions […]
WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today regarding a provision in the Ryan-Murray spending package that would remove a key protection against future tax-and-spend legislation: “As we near a Senate vote on the spending package that emerged from the House, I remain deeply concerned about […]
WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today regarding the provision in the Budget Control Act replacement package that removes a crucial budget point of order in the Senate: “My office has received multiple inquiries as to the effect of the Ryan/Murray deal on Senators’ rights […]
“A series of concerns, on balance, cause me to be unable to support the legislation produced by Chairman Ryan and Chairman Murray, including: While I favor reorganizing elements of the Budget Control Act to smooth the impact, I do not favor increasing total discretionary spending above what was agreed to over the 10-year BCA period […]
WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, today released a letter that he sent to the acting chief executive officer of the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC), which is the organization responsible for managing the Universal Service Fund used to pay for programs such as Obamaphones. An identical letter was […]
“The financial pressures related to a private company’s survival should not cause the federal government to modify its policies or place additional taxpayer money at risk… There is concern that SolarCity might become the next Solyndra—a company propped on the back of the taxpayers.” WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget […]
WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, released the following prepared remarks today as the budget conference committee held its second public meeting, at which Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf also testified: “I am once again honored to be joined here today by some of the brightest minds and […]
WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today after the Department of Health and Human Services abruptly reversed course and reissued a controversial sole-source contract for a Chicago company to promote the President’s health law to individuals in prisons: “I’m disappointed that the cancellation notice posted […]
“I am honored to be with this distinguished group. In this room are seated some of the most knowledgeable people in our nation on budget, debt, and economic growth. The purpose of a budget is to develop a financial plan for the future of America. It is not easy and our differences are real and […]
WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, announced today that the Department of Health and Human Services had canceled a no-bid contract to “increase insurance enrollment for… individuals involved in the criminal justice system.” The sole-source contract had been awarded to Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities, a community advocacy organization […]
WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, released a letter today sent to Department of Interior Secretary Sally Jewell regarding her agency’s procurement of alternative fuel vehicles (AFV) in an effort to meet legal mandates and presidential directives. Identical copies of the letter were sent to agency heads at the […]
WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, released a letter today sent to National Endowment for the Humanities Acting Chairman Carol Watson regarding the grant process at her agency, as well as the expenditure of public funds to distribute books related to Islam to 900 libraries across the country. The […]
We have just concluded the 5th fiscal year since President Obama took office. During those five years, the federal government has spent a total $3.7 trillion on approximately 80 different means-tested poverty and welfare programs. The common feature of means-tested assistance programs is that they are graduated based on a person’s income and, in contrast […]
WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today regarding this morning’s Bureau of Labor Statistics report that the economy added just 148,000 jobs during the month of September: “Today’s jobs report underscores the real problem in today’s labor market: growing joblessness among working-age adults despite modest […]
WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, delivered the following speech today as the second in a series of addresses analyzing the state of the American economy: “Last Thursday I delivered the first in a series of speeches looking at the state of our economy. I have directed my […]
WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today in response to Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius’ claim that there has not been an increase in part-time work: “I was astounded to learn that Secretary Sebelius—a top member of the President’s cabinet and […]
WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today regarding the selection of Janet Yellen to chair the Federal Reserve and on the need for an era of “humility”: “I intend to fairly but rigorously scrutinize this nominee. What we need in the Fed is a policy […]
WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement tonight after voting against legislation to increase the debt limit and to adopt a “continuing resolution” without reforms: “In the last five years, Washington spent more than $15 trillion and added more than $6 trillion to the debt. Never […]
“The President’s health care law will worsen, not improve, our fiscal outlook. It’s hurting our economy, it’s harming millions of Americans, and it’s growing the size and scope of government. Congress must permanently repeal this unworkable law.” WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, delivered the following speech on the […]
“We are quietly downsizing the American Dream. The ‘new normal’ really refers to the increasingly modest dreams hardworking families allow themselves. Maybe education after high school, maybe retirement, maybe a paid-up home and car when you stop working… but [these things are] increasingly not certain and perhaps not even likely… Let’s take this [time] to […]
“I have directed my staff on the Budget Committee to conduct a detailed analysis of the economic conditions facing working Americans: their wages, their employment, their household finances. I will give a series of talks over the coming weeks looking at their financial condition and the state of our nation economically… It’s not just the […]
“The report demolishes any argument that the decline in the size of our deficits provides any basis for the country to relax. Annual deficits and debt are certain to rise relentlessly and without end unless we take action… Reforms to [America’s trillion-dollar welfare budget is] necessary to ensure not only that taxpayer dollars are being […]