WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement tonight announcing his opposition to shutting off debate on the appropriations package, which combined three separate spending bills: “The package of spending bills before the Senate this week is proof positive that Washington spending remains out of control. Total […]
WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today in opposition to the nomination of Heather Higginbottom to be Deputy Director at the Office of Management and Budget: “Ms. Higginbottom has no real budget experience. She would be the least qualified nominee to hold this post in […]
WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, spoke on the Senate floor today as he announced the filing of the following three amendments to the pending “mini-bus” appropriations package: No CHiMPs that don’t save money—This amendment would create a 60-vote point of order against any appropriations bill if it includes […]
“Very troubling questions remain about why this crucial information was not disclosed prior to the bill’s passage and I continue to believe that the Senate Budget Committee’s majority should hold a hearing with Secretary Sibelius at once.” WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today regarding […]
WASHINGTON—Senate Budget Committee Ranking Member Jeff Sessions (R-AL) and Chairman Kent Conrad (D-ND) today submitted bipartisan recommendations to the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction. The two Budget Committee leaders urged the panel to strengthen the congressional budget process and to switch to a two-year, or biennial, budget cycle. Upon release of the letter, the text […]
WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, and U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), Chairman of the House Budget Committee, issued the following joint statement today to mark the 900th day since Senate Democrats last adopted a formal budget plan as required by the Congressional Budget Act: “America is greatly in […]
WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today as voting continued on proceeding to President Obama’s second stimulus bill, with members on both sides of the aisle voting in opposition: “The president has demanded a jobs bill vote and he got it. The Senate tonight is […]
“Transparency is crucial… There are a number of important questions that remain unanswered.” WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, and U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-SD), Chairman of the Republican Policy Committee, were joined today by Republican Members of the Senate Budget Committee in sending a letter to Chairman Kent […]
WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, and U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, today announced the introduction of the Honest Budget Act, a nine-plank legislative package that targets Washington’s most dishonest budget gimmicks and accounting tricks: “Washington relies on […]
“I have long-supported [biennial budget] legislation and am eager to begin renewed work on this proposal… But the process reform will achieve little if we don’t address the underlying problem: the ideology of big government. As long as Washington operates under the idea that the federal government is the first and best solution to all […]
WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today regarding spending offsets for disaster funding in the continuing resolution now under consideration in the Senate: “Throughout this year we have seen a stark contrast: Republicans in Congress have tried to responsibly manage the federal budget by reducing […]
WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today regarding the consideration of a short-term continuing resolution: “The current debate over yet another stopgap funding measure should be understood in one fundamental context: Senate Democrats have shunned their basic governing responsibility. They failed to follow regular order, […]
WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, joined a bicameral group of lawmakers in sending a letter to Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, about the CLASS Act, a long-term care program created as part of the president’s healthcare bill. The letter calls on Sebelius to […]
“The White House says that the president’s plan achieves $3.2 trillion in deficit reduction. The actual deficit reduction is only $1.4 trillion… The White House asserts $2 in cuts for every $1 in tax hikes… In reality, under the president’s plan, the net change in spending is an increase… This has become the pattern: the […]
“The White House is trying to be clever at the expense of being credible… [they claim] the president’s plan is $2 in spending cuts for every $1 in tax hikes. But in truth, the president’s deficit reduction comes entirely from tax hikes. Total federal spending, including the stimulus, will increase under the president’s plan, not decrease. On […]
“Now, in the grips of crisis, we are told the president has a new plan to revive the economy. We received a proposal on Monday, with no fiscal details, that just offers more of the same. It calls for a sudden increase in the deficit with a promise to pay for it at a later […]
“When we received a copy of the legislation yesterday, we were expecting the Office of Management and Budget—which enjoys a five hundred person staff—to provide a precise and detailed estimate of the fiscal impact of the president’s proposal. But no such information was provided… Perhaps even more troubling, however, is that despite the emphatic promise […]
“Today’s dismal jobs numbers further demonstrate that the country needs much more than a speech—it needs the confidence and certainty that only a concrete fiscal plan can provide.” WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today regarding the president’s upcoming address to Congress in light of […]
“The president?s intention to release the details of his spending and deficit reduction plans separately, over a series of weeks, suggests he does not comprehend the debilitating impact America?s debt is having on the economy right now, and casts additional doubt on the president?s sincerity in paying for his latest „stimulus? program.” WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff […]
“The president’s plan makes a mockery of the recent debt limit deal. That agreement cut $7 billion in appropriations next year but the president now wants to borrow hundreds of billions more to finance a second stimulus package… Saying that something is ‘paid for’ isn’t enough… Borrowing even more to spend immediately in exchange for […]
“Our nation’s total debt has now officially eclipsed the size of our entire economy… but the president continues his call for more failed government ‘investments.’ We need certainty and predictability, not more experiments in progressive economics.” WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today in response […]
“The new normal in Washington has become panic-driven 11th hour votes in which Members are told to fall into line before pandemonium ensues. This is no way to run the Congress or to run the government… No select committee or secret meeting is going to force the Congress to look in the mirror or to […]
WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued a statement this evening following the announcement that a deal had been reached to raise the debt ceiling: “I am glad that this matter appears to be on its way to resolution prior to August 2nd. However, I have warned from the […]
WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today regarding the current status of debt negotiations as the Senate awaits a vote on Majority Leader Reid’s debt limit proposal: “One thing every American should know: the level of spending cuts currently being discussed is only a small […]
“If the White House or the Democrat leadership in the Senate had taken the legally required budget process seriously at any point in the last year—if they had presented a single credible plan to cut spending—we wouldn’t be here right now in the 11th hour.” WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate […]
“Had the Senate adopted a budget in a timely manner this year, as the House of Representatives did, we would not be at an impasse on the debt limit increase at the 11th hour…[your] provision would provide a further excuse for avoiding a budget and increase the likelihood the Congressional Budget Act will be violated […]
“If the year had begun with a serious budget proposal from the president, we wouldn’t be in this mess right now… Senate Democrats, meanwhile, have refused to pass a budget in 820 days or even present one this year… Democrats defied the law and sound policy all year long and now we are paying the […]
“As feared, the Majority Leader’s bill does not achieve anything close to the promised savings. Given the late hour, rather than rush through poorly-vetted legislation to grant the president the largest debt ceiling increase in history, we should pursue a more reasonable approach: a short-term extension with real cuts during the immediate time period the […]
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 repeated call for a “balanced” approach to dealing with the nation’s looming debt crisis: “The president has repeatedly called for a „balanced? approach to reducing our deficit. But there?s nothing „balanced? about an […]
“We can’t have an honest budget if we don’t have an honest dialogue. So I’m here today to speak the plain truth, as best I can, and to provide some concrete facts for consideration… Democrats have said—although no plan has ever been made public—that they could get behind a budget deal that reduces the deficit […]