Oversight
Economic Growth In 2013 Just Half Of What The President Said His Policies Would Deliver
In 2009, President Obama predicted his policies would produce 4.2 percent growth in 2013-more than double the actual, anemic growth rate of 1.9 percent. Since making that projection, President Obama has had much of his economic agenda implemented: the $870 billion stimulus bill, Dodd-Frank financial regulations, Obamacare, restrictions on American energy, $1.7 trillion in higher taxes, unfettered regulation, etc. Our debt has soared from $10.6 trillion to $17.5 trillion on the promise that this … Continue Reading
03.28.14
CBO: Interests Costs To Dwarf Virtually Every Federal Expense
The U.S. gross federal debt currently stands at $17.548 trillion, and net interest payments to our creditors are the fastest-growing item in the budget. In 2014, the Congressional Budget Office projects that the nation will spend $233 billion on interest payments. By the end of the budget window in 2024, however, CBO forecasts that interest payments will nearly quadruple to an astonishing $880 billion. Every dollar spent paying our creditors is a dollar wasted-money for which we get nothing in r… Continue Reading
03.12.14
SBC Summary And Analysis Of President Obama's FY 2015 Budget
Spending in 2015 would total $3.901 trillion under the President's spending policies, an increase of nearly 8 percent ($279 billion) above today's levels. This is $114 billion more than the OMB baseline, which assumes compliance with the Budget Control Act (BCA) as revised by the Ryan-Murray spending agreement. The President's budget recommends $1.759 trillion in higher revenues over the next 10 years. The budget also assumes $1.386 trillion in higher revenues from generous economic assumptions… Continue Reading
03.12.14
Sessions Delivers Opening Remarks At Hearing Examining President’s Budget With Secretary Lew
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, delivered the following prepared remarks today at a Budget Committee hearing on the President's FY 2015 budget proposal with testimony from Treasury Secretary Jack Lew: "Thank you, Secretary Lew, for appearing before us today. In 2009, the Administration wagered America's financial future on the idea that a record increase in government spending and debt would revive the economy. Since then, government … Continue Reading
03.10.14
Sessions: Sebelius Has Never Testified Before Budget Committee Despite Health Spending Comprising Nearly 1/3 Of Fed. Budget
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, released a letter today sent to Chairman Patty Murray asking that Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius be invited to appear before the Committee. The text of Sessions' letter follows: "Dear Chairman Murray: At the end of our hearing with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Sylvia Burwell, on the President's FY2015 budget submission, I asked about inviting Secretary of He… Continue Reading
03.07.14
Sessions: Households Have Lost $278B In Income Over The Last Five Years
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today after a new Bureau of Labor Statistics report revealed that February marked the 74th straight month that employment levels have been below what they were at the start of the recession: "Since 2007, the population has grown by 15 million. Yet there are 1 million fewer Americans who are working. The result is a shrinking workforce and expanding welfare rolls. Even over th… Continue Reading
03.05.14
Sessions Delivers Opening Remarks At Hearing With President's Budget Director
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, delivered the following remarks today at the Budget Committee hearing on the President's FY 2015 budget proposal with testimony from OMB Director Sylvia Burwell: "Director Burwell, thank you for joining us here today. Two weeks ago, where you are sitting today, we heard chilling testimony from Director Elmendorf of the Congressional Budget Office that declared that the United States was on an "unsustainab… Continue Reading
03.04.14
Sessions: President’s Budget ‘An Open Declaration That Reality Doesn’t Matter’
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today regarding President Obama's fiscal year 2015 budget submission: "Just days ago the Director of the Congressional Budget Office sounded the alarm over our nation's 'unsustainable' debt path and 'the risk of a fiscal crisis.' But President Obama has ignored the warning and submitted a budget plan that bursts through the Ryan-Murray spending caps he agreed to when he signe… Continue Reading
03.04.14
The President's FY 2015 Budget: Growing The Government And Shrinking The Middle Class
Spending Surges We're not in an "era of austerity." Since 2009, we've added $6.8 trillion to the debt and spent $17.6 trillion. The President's budget increases spending by $791 billion over 10 years and by $56 billion in 2015 above the Murray-Ryan spending agreement that he signed into law just two months ago. His budget will increase total spending by 63 percent from today's levels over the next 10 years. Debt Explodes President Obama's budget never balances-ever. It would add $8.… Continue Reading
02.28.14
Sessions Reacts To Senate Dem Decision To Skip Budget Once Again
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today regarding the Friday afternoon announcement that the Senate's Democrat majority would, for yet another year, violate its legal obligation to produce a budget plan: "With this decision every single Senate Democrat has fled the fiscal battlefield at a time when their constituents face an exceptional danger. The debt is on track to hit $27 trillion by 2024. Annual interest… Continue Reading
02.27.14
State-By-State Analysis Of Minimum Wage Increase
Republican staff of the Senate Budget Committee worked with staff of the Employment Policies Institute to prepare an information sheet for each state on how the proposed increase in the minimum wage would affect employment and who would be affected. The Minimum Wage Fairness Act (S. 1737) calls for an increase in the Federal minimum wage from its current level of $7.25 to $10.10 over a two-year period. While the intention of improving the incomes of minimum wage workers is laudable, most econom… Continue Reading
02.25.14
Sessions Urges ‘National Effort To Reduce The Welfare Rolls And Grow The Employment Rolls’
"The centerpiece of the strategy should be a consuming national effort to reduce the welfare rolls and grow the employment rolls… Imagine how much could we could do if we redirected [our $750 billion yearly welfare budget] to focus on job training, job placing, and work preparation. Wouldn't that be a better, more productive, and more compassionate plan? One that would work?" WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, delivered the following… Continue Reading
02.12.14
Ranking Member Sessions Opposes Debt Limit Increase
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today regarding the debt limit increase: "This measure would increase America's debt limit approximately $1 trillion while failing to reduce spending by a single penny. And the legislation takes no steps whatsoever to eliminate gimmicks that allow spending above our budget limits. The tax, spend, and borrow agenda in Washington has not worked: wages are down, the workforce is… Continue Reading
02.11.14
Sessions Delivers Statement At Hearing To Examine CBO’s Obamacare Report And Budget Outlook
"The President said his stimulus bill, the Affordable Care Act, increased taxes and regulations, and more government spending would result in a strong [economic recovery]… Sadly, CBO's report recognizes that the President's 2010 health care law is a hammer blow to lower-income workers… It is our duty to take principled, achievable steps that will benefit the most Americans, not just the fortunate few, and do so without increasing our debt, which is already well in the danger zone.… Continue Reading
02.07.14
Sessions: Time To Begin National Conversation About Moving People Off Welfare And Into The Workforce
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today regarding the state of U.S. labor markets: "Today's jobs report provides further evidence of the damage done to labor markets by the slow economic recovery. One of the most troubling factors is the sheer number of people who are completely outside the labor force. Indeed, testimony presented this week in the Budget Committee revealed that the number of people actively l… Continue Reading
02.06.14
The Economic Effects Of Mass Immigration On U.S. Workers
The great public policy question of whether the United States should continue admitting about 1 million immigrants a year under current law, or triple that number as proposed in the recently passed Senate bill, has now come to the House. This question is momentous not only because our immigration system needs reforming, but primarily because proposals to do so include massive increases in migrant flows in addition to the legalization of millions currently residing in the U.S. illegally. Given th… Continue Reading
02.05.14
Senate Budget Committee Analysis Of CBO Baseline Outlook
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued a statement today as the Committee released a staff analysis of the new Congressional Budget Office baseline outlook. The analysis follows Sessions' comments: "CBO's stunning report shows that our fiscal outlook is markedly worse than in its previous estimate, with deficits up by $1 trillion (to $7.3 trillion) over the 2014-2023 period. Gross federal debt will climb past $27 trillion in 10 years. Ma… Continue Reading
02.04.14
Sessions Delivers Opening Statement At First Budget Hearing Of The Year
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, delivered the following prepared remarks today at the Budget Committee hearing on the economic outlook for 2014: "The recovery from the 2009 recession seemed to be solid at first, but it has not come close to meeting the projections of the Administration (OMB), the Federal Reserve, CBO, and others. For example, every year when OMB and others have made their two-year GDP projections, they have missed. Not … Continue Reading
02.04.14
Ranking Member Sessions Comments On New CBO Baseline Projections
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today regarding the new 10-year baseline from the Congressional Budget Office: "This morning, the Budget Committee held a hearing with the ostensible purpose of reassuring us that all is well, that the economy is getting stronger, and that there is no urgent need to change our debt course. But all is not well. New baseline estimates from the Congressional Budget Office reve… Continue Reading
01.28.14
Ranking Member Sessions Comments On State Of The Union Address
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement this evening regarding President Obama's State of the Union address: "President Obama says he is concerned about low wages and chronic unemployment for American workers. Yet his signature second-term legislative item is an immigration bill that would immediately and permanently double the flow of new immigrant workers competing against unemployed Americans-reducing wages, inc… Continue Reading
