Oversight
Senate Democrats’ Tax-And-Spend Plan Grows The Government—Not The Economy
A Budget That Never Balances-EverSenate Democrats had four years to come up with a plan to balance the budget and grow the economy. Four years to develop a proposal to make government less wasteful and more productive, and to reform failing government programs that have trapped millions in poverty and joblessness. But after four years and $6 trillion in debt since a budget was last passed, their vague proposal leaves America with a budget that never balances and a government that never stops gro… Continue Reading
03.13.13
After Reviewing Murray Budget, Sessions Conveys ‘Deep Disappointment’
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today after his initial review of the Murray budget which, if enacted, would be the first Senate Democratic budget in four years: "Four years have passed since the last time Senate's Democrat majority attempted to pass a budget. Four years of trillion-dollar deficits. Yet, to my amazement and deep disappointment, the majority has come forward today with a proposal that does n… Continue Reading
03.13.13
Sessions Delivers Opening Statement At Committee Meeting To Produce First Senate Democrat Budget In Four Years
"Is it really possible that after four years, the majority has failed to identify any reforms? That all we have is just a tax-and-spend budget that makes no alteration to our dangerous debt course? Does the majority believe the government is perfect and requires no reform? … Is the Budget Committee of the United States Senate really prepared to say we cannot balance the federal budget? If that is so, it is a sad day in America… I fear the majority's plan will enrich the bureaucrac… Continue Reading
03.12.13
After Four Years, Senate Democrats Have Obligation To Present Budget Free Of Gimmicks
After four years of defying their statutory responsibility to lay out a financial plan for the nation, Senate Democrats have relented and announced they will draft and introduce a budget this year. The nation's debt has climbed to $16.7 trillion since then-greater than the size of the entire economy-so it is essential that their budget be an honest one that changes our debt course, not a plan full of gimmicks. Here are some of the accounting tricks that must be avoided. False 'Balance'We have a… Continue Reading
03.09.13
Sessions Delivers Weekly Republican Address
"We need to grow the economy-not the government… Government has never been bigger or more out of control. They say there is no problem with waste, fraud, and abuse; they say the problem is you; they say you are not sending them enough money; they say they have wisely spent every penny. So, you must just send them more. And, if you don't? Well, they won't stop spending, they'll just borrow more. These destructive policies cannot continue. We are at the breaking point." WASHINGTON, D.C.-In… Continue Reading
03.08.13
Sessions, Ryan Call For Halt On Taxpayer Funding For Risky High-Speed Rail Project
"We are deeply troubled by the prospects of subsidizing another costly, wasteful, and risky high-speed rail project, particularly when our nation is facing a debt crisis that threatens the well-being of the current and future generations of Americans… We would urge the Administration to reject the XpressWest loan application and to direct its available RRIF funds to more worthy transportation infrastructure projects that could truly provide a reasonable rate of return to the taxpayers of … Continue Reading
03.04.13
Sessions Comments On Nomination Of New OMB Director
"The Director must lead an effort to make government leaner and more efficient, and must be committed to providing honest and accurate information on the dangerous financial condition of our country." WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today regarding President Obama's nomination of Sylvia Burwell to head the Office of Management and Budget: "We will fairly and thoughtfully evaluate this nomination. Whoever h… Continue Reading
03.01.13
Sessions: Data In New State Dept. Letter Further Proves Immigrant Welfare Prohibition Being Ignored
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today regarding newly released data from the State Department demonstrating that only 0.0033 percent of net applications for admission to the United States were denied on "public charge" grounds in 2011, despite the federal law prohibiting admission of any individual deemed likely to be a public charge: "The data just provided by the State Department, like that recently provi… Continue Reading
03.01.13
Sessions: Fed Workers Should Have Opportunity To Find Budget Savings
"[Federal] workers know firsthand how much waste and inefficiency exists in the government. Our Budget Committee office will look for a way to solicit federal employees to send suggestions for how to save money in their departments, agencies, and divisions. What is better? To furlough someone or to empower them to make their office more efficient?" WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today as the sequester was… Continue Reading
02.28.13
Sessions Delivers Opening Remarks At Budget Committee Hearing On Government Spending
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, delivered remarks today at a Budget Committee hearing scheduled by the majority to make the case for additional federal "investments." Sessions' remarks, as prepared, follow: "Thank you, Chairman Murray. This hearing deals with an important subject: Government spending and long term economic growth. It provides an important opportunity to address the economic harm caused by excessive federal spending and … Continue Reading
02.27.13
Sessions Delivers Closing Remarks On Lew Nomination
"This was the strategy: offer a plan that does nothing to alter our dangerous debt course while pretending the opposite. Then, once you've done that, attack anyone who dares to reduce the size of the bureaucracy. Attack anyone who suggests Washington is too powerful… It is time that we pointed out that the establishment they are shielding from cuts-the big-government apparatus they are defending-is hurting people every day. Their policies, their endless support of the bureaucracy, has cr… Continue Reading
02.27.13
Sessions Opens Debate On Opposition To Jack Lew Nomination
"Normally, and necessarily, the OMB director is the single office that drives efficiency and demands accountability on behalf of the President and the American people. In that aspect of his job, and in this time of surging debt, I rate Mr. Lew's performance as an F… [It] was decided [that] Mr. Lew would go before the American people and Congress and just declare that the budget did put the nation on a sound financial course… To anybody that has the slightest concern for the meani… Continue Reading
02.19.13
Immigration And The Welfare State
It is an explicit and unambiguous tenet in federal law that those granted entry into the U.S. must be able to support themselves financially. But the Obama Administration has aggressively defied this strict federal statute. What are new promises worth when existing law is unilaterally waived? Last year, the Ranking Members of Budget, Finance, Judiciary, and Agriculture Committees wrote an oversight letter to Secretaries Napolitano and Clinton that said in part: "The [Immigration and Natio… Continue Reading
02.15.13
Jack Lew Complicit In Violation Of Law Aimed At Saving Medicare
Alarmed by the unsustainable growth of Medicare's unfunded obligations and the direct threat this posed to seniors, Congress in 2003 enacted a legal requirement that the President submit legislation if the Medicare Trustees issue a funding warning for the program as part of their annual report. This provision of federal law is commonly known as the Medicare Trigger, and it is intended to ensure that steps are taken to shore up the program's finances before it is too late. The law (31 USC §… Continue Reading
02.14.13
Sessions: DHS Letter Confirms Public Charge Immigration Law Not Being Enforced
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued a statement today regarding the long-delayed response from the Department of Homeland Security about the Administration's apparent waiving of federal law with respect to welfare restrictions for immigrants. The response indicated that, in 2012, not a single immigrant was identified by the federal government as being a public charge: "The law that excludes immigrants from entry if they are likely to … Continue Reading
02.13.13
At Budget Hearing, Sessions Presents Moral Case For Welfare Reform
"Since President Johnson's Great Society, the federal government has spent $15 trillion dollars in the war on poverty. Yet the poverty rate has remained largely unchanged… Welfare is now the single largest item in the federal budget. It is larger than Medicare, larger than defense, larger than Social Security… Today, like in 1996, opponents of reform label any attempts to change the way these programs operate as cruel, uncaring, and dangerous. But what is actually cruel and uncarin… Continue Reading
02.12.13
Sessions Delivers Opening Statement At First Budget Hearing Of 2013
"It has been four years since the Democrat-led Senate has produced a budget as the law requires… I am glad that the Senate majority has relented and is going to do a budget this year, else I wonder what our Committee might find itself having to do-whether we would even need the Committee. So we look forward to meeting the Committee deadline of April 1st to publically produce a resolution and then April 15th on the Senate floor… While we talk of cuts and frugality, total spending i… Continue Reading
02.05.13
CBO’s Budget And Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2013 To 2023
CBO's latest baseline budget projections show that the nation has a severe spending problem that needs to be addressed. After deficits are projected to fall for three years, they begin a relentless rise again to almost $1 trillion in 2023-clearly an unsustainable path. Without a course correction, out-of-control spending will fuel a $9 trillion increase in the gross debt, further slowing the economy and limiting opportunity for millions of Americans. Cumulative interest payments alone will amoun… Continue Reading
02.05.13
Sessions: White House Must End Its Violation Of Federal Medicare Law
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today regarding the Committee's oversight of Jack Lew's role in the Administration's defiance of Medicare law, as well as other controversies surrounding his nomination: "Jack Lew must never be Treasury Secretary. As director of the Office of Management and Budget, he submitted to Congress two spend-and-debt budget plans which not only received zero votes but which would have… Continue Reading
02.04.13
Jack Lew: Architect Of Two Failed Budgets And A Campaign To Mislead The Country
As Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Jack Lew was the chief architect of two failed budgets which garnered zero votes in the Senate and represented the most irresponsible financial plans ever brought before Congress. But not only did Mr. Lew develop two inexcusable plans during a time of grave fiscal emergency, he made a series of outrageously false statements about these plans to Congress and the American people. Mr. Lew's budgets, and his egregious disregard for the truth, … Continue Reading
