09.14.16

Enzi: CBO Must Continue to Provide Objective and Insightful Information to Congress

WASHINGTON D.C. – Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY), Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, today during an oversight hearing of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), said that it was crucial for CBO to provide objective and insightful information to Congress, while also increasing transparency of the agency’s analysis and operations.

“CBO recently released its latest round of projections this year,” said Chairman Enzi.  “What this report heralded should not be a surprise to anyone. CBO has continually showed in recent years that we are on the wrong fiscal track and America’s current budget path is simply unsustainable. Its August report revealed that this fiscal year we will overspend by $590 billion.  That is up $152 billion from last year’s deficit.  There is no end in sight to this overspending.”

Enzi noted that the Senate Budget Committee spent the last year holding numerous hearings and evaluating ways to fix our broken budget process, and said that CBO will be a critical element in getting America’s fiscal house in order. 

“CBO tells us deficits will hit the $1 trillion mark in 2024 and continue their upward trajectory.  By the end of CBO’s projection window, 2026, our nation’s mammoth debt will reach more than $28 trillion, a nearly 50 percent increase from today’s levels.  Clearly we have a problem.  CBO’s independence and non-partisanship will be essential to get both sides of the aisle together to confront our budget realities,” Chairman Enzi said.

# # #