“The Budget Committee Chairman says he now, once again, has a budget that he is sharing secretly with his Democrat colleagues. Yet we hear no indication that a full text of the resolution will be made public or, crucially, that it will be slated for a public mark-up in the Committee as required by law… […]
“No real work is scheduled in the Senate this week on the budget, nor is any on the debt ceiling. Instead, we are moving today to a Libya resolution. This resolution, not requested by the president, is not why we asked to cancel recess… For this reason, I will oppose cloture today and urge the […]
Speeches And Op-Eds From White House Won’t Save Medicare WASHINGTON—The Obama administration continues to overlook its legal obligation to address Medicare’s growing fiscal imbalance. Instead of offering constructive solutions to avert a looming crisis, the president’s Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, published a new opinion piece containing numerous falsehoods about the Republicans’ […]
“On the floor, we spend week after week on bills that have little or nothing to do with our economic danger. We name post offices and courthouses but ignore the gathering fiscal storm. And now the Senate is scheduled to take next week off… Before the Memorial Day recess I presented to the Majority Leader […]
“We respectfully request that you provide us, in detail, the most recent version of the proposals that were discussed, including a list of any tax increases for which the White House reportedly advocated… The Congressional Budget Office needs time to review and analyze the proposals that were discussed, and the Budget and Finance Committees need […]
“For weeks, Republicans have insisted that the Senate should not recess without working to control our enormous surging debt and unsustainable spending… But now it looks like we may be in session only for show—it seems no work is slated on cutting spending, developing a budget, or addressing the debt ceiling… Given where we are […]
Higher debt leads to slower economic growth. Empirical studies show that high levels of government debt inhibit economic growth by creating uncertainty, displacing needed private investment, and placing upward pressure on interest rates. For example, Reinhart and Rogoff found that, in advanced economies with gross government debt above 90 percent of GDP, median economic growth […]
“It will be unacceptable for the White House talks, or any talks, to produce a controversial decision at the 11th hour and for its passage to then be demanded in panic… Additionally, raising the debt ceiling should not be accompanied by tax hikes. A punishing tax increase would not only threaten needed growth, it would […]
“The CBO data also reaffirms that our surging debt is being spurred by excessive spending and insufficient growth—not because Washington isn’t taxing enough—and that excessive government borrowing is already slowing economic growth… If CBO’s long-term projections come to pass, America as we know it will be in peril.” WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member […]
Top Republicans on Senate and House Budget Committees call upon President to respond to Medicare trigger WASHINGTON—Earlier today, Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions, Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, and Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan, Chairman of the House Budget Committee, sent a letter to President Obama following his Administration’s failure to submit a proposal, as […]
“Our crushing debt undermines confidence in our economy, weakens our standing in the world, and results in devastating job loss for Americans… Nearly every expert that has testified before this committee has sounded the warning call. So too has the IMF, Moody’s, our own Federal Reserve—all have cautioned us to turn back from the abyss […]
“The president and his party leaders still don’t get it. If they think we can now proceed to some meager compromise, they are gravely mistaken. This Congress must deliver whatthe situation demands… One way or another, we are going to reduce spending andrestore prosperity. The fight goes on.” WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member […]
March 2, 2011 Contact: Stephen Miller, 202.224.0642 “Just because you call something an ‘investment’ doesn’t make it so… The president’s plan worsens a desperate fiscal circumstance and fails to invest—by any honest measure—in our nation’s energy future. America has vast, proven energy reserves and yet the president continues to lock those away in the pursuit […]
“We will fight every day, week, and month to make the government leaner and the economy more prosperous.” WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, made the following comments today following the passage of a continuing resolution that funds the government over the next two weeks at approximately $4 billion […]
WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, made the following comment today following the release of a report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) that highlighted redundancy in federal programs: “Today’s GAO report proves that for all the president’s rhetoric about tough cuts, he has failed to make some of […]
“Interest on our debt was $196 billion last year—three times as large as the total education budget this year. In 10 years, under the president’s plan, the annual interest payment will be $844 billion, 10 times the size of the budget’s call for education spending… You cannot win the future for our children with borrowed […]
Today, GAO identified massive duplication, fragmentation, and other inefficiencies that cost taxpayers billions of dollars every year in waste and degraded service—all while President Obama’s budget surges federal spending across the board and adds $13 trillion to the debt. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued its first annual report on government duplication today. The report […]
WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, today commented on the second anniversary of the enactment of President Obama’s stimulus package, which spent nearly $1 trillion in a failed effort to revive the economy and bring down unemployment. Sessions made his remarks at a hearing with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, […]
“We need to stop growing the government and start growing the economy. That means reducing spending now. The situation is too urgent—and the need for a new direction too great—for us to delay action any longer.” WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, delivered an opening statement today at a […]
A Detailed Summary and Analysis of President Obama’s FY 2012 Budget
THE PRESIDENT’S BUDGET SPENDS, TAXES, AND BORROWS TOO MUCH – STIFLING JOB GROWTH TODAY AND THREATENING OUR ECONOMIC FUTURE In challenging times, a chief executive must lead. But President Obama has failed to confront the fiscal and economic challenges before us. Instead, he continues down the same unsustainable path: growing the government, weakening the economy, […]
“The president has spoken in recent days about winning the future. But his budget reads more like a blueprint for losing the future.” WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, released the following statement today in response to President Obama’s Fiscal Year 2012 budget proposal, which was submitted to Congress […]
“[President Reagan] lowered taxes dramatically, including a reduction in the top rate from seventy percent to less than thirty. And he reined in a runaway bureaucracy that had trapped innovation and productivity in a labyrinth of regulation and red tape… We would be wise to remember the lessons of that era. Peace through strength; prosperity […]
• The president’s “freeze” would continue dramatically increased spending levels at a time when we have a $1.5 trillion deficit, producing an estimated $3.8 trillion in accumulated deficits over the next 5 years.[1] It maintains inflated levels of non-defense discretionary spending while allowing for ongoing increases in the rest of the budget. • The “freeze” pushes […]
“Health reform is part of deficit reform.” President Barack Obama, Remarks to the Families USA Conference (January 27, 2011) ***** “How, then, does the ACA magically convert $1 trillion in new spending into painless deficit reduction? It’s all about budget gimmicks, deceptive accounting, and implausible assumptions used to create the false impression of fiscal discipline.” […]
“In two weeks, on February 14th, the president will submit a new budget to Congress. This may be his last chance to get this right. For the president to be a credible voice in this debate he must put forward a budget with significantly lower spending levels. He cannot present Congress with the same unserious […]
WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, responded tonight to President Obama’s State of the Union address and the president’s plan to maintain increased levels of discretionary spending: “Massive federal spending has placed our nation on an unsustainable path. And yet tonight the President pledged to continue down this perilous […]
WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, responded tonight to President Obama’s State of the Union address and the president’s plan to maintain increased levels of discretionary spending: “Massive federal spending has placed our nation on an unsustainable path. And yet tonight the President pledged to continue down this perilous […]
Democrats used budget gimmicks to manipulate the CBO score of Obamacare. The truth: It adds nearly $700 billion to the deficit in the first ten years alone. The Gimmicks: • Counting a full ten years of tax increases to pay for only six years of new health care spending. Imaginary savings from Democrats, but deficits […]