Oversight
U.S. In Fiscal Denial
Recent reports assert that the federal government has entered a new era of austerity. For instance, an article in Politico claimed "2011 was a year that saw spending trends break heavily in favor of deficit hawks."[1] In fact, federal spending continues to increase at a rate well above inflation, despite the country having amassed $15 trillion debt-an amount larger than our entire economy. Other debt-ridden governments have cut spending by more than five percent in one year and, in at least… Continue Reading
12.06.11
War Savings Gimmick Explained
Some in Congress are willing to use a reduction in war spending to offset increases in domestic spending and reductions in revenue. This offset is a budget gimmick since it claims savings from money that would never be spent in the first place. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) baseline assumes that war spending (overseas contingency operations or "OCO" spending) will grow every year from the $159 billion provided in FY 2011 and cost $1.8 trillion over the FY 2012-2021 period. … Continue Reading
12.06.11
Sessions Challenges War Savings Gimmick
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today regarding reports that some lawmakers may attempt to use the war savings gimmick to 'pay for' increased spending and borrowing: "There are a series of items that Congress must address before the year ends that, together, could add hundreds of billions of dollars to our deficit. These items include the AMT, the pension holiday, an extension of unemployment insurance, and… Continue Reading
12.02.11
The November Jobs Report: A Closer Look
The total number of people without jobs is 13.3 million. Additionally, 2.5 million people wanted and were available for work-more than this time last year-but were not included in the overall unemployment rate. The unemployment rate dropped from 9.0 percent to 8.6 percent, but 315,000 Americans left the labor force. This means that the percentage of Americans unemployed dropped because fewer were looking for jobs, thus exaggerating the trend downward. Had labor force participation remai… Continue Reading
12.02.11
The Chorus Grows: Obama’s Budget Represents Failure Of Leadership
"President Barack Obama has unveiled a hugely disappointing budget, cutting only a few percentage points from the $100,000bn in projected US federal deficits over the remainder of this century… If Mr Obama will not make this case, who will?" Financial Times, Obama's budget shows failure of leadership "The larger problem with the budget is the administration's refusal to confront the hard choices that Mr. Obama is so fond of saying must be faced." Washington Post, President Obama's budg… Continue Reading
11.29.11
The Case For Growth: Sessions Lists Benefits Of Discretionary Cuts
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, delivered an opening statement today at a hearing with former Budget Committee Chairman Pete Domenici and former OMB and CBO Director Alice Rivlin to discuss the report from their bipartisan debt reduction task force. Sessions argued that immediate reductions in discretionary spending will result in numerous benefits, such as spurring economic growth, easing the deficit burden by hundreds of billions of dol… Continue Reading
11.29.11
Sessions Expresses Concern Over Obama Nominee For Key Budget Post, Lack Of Candor From White House
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, released the following statement ahead of tomorrow's hearing to consider Heather Higginbottom's nomination to be Deputy Director for the Office of Management and Budget. Over the past 20 years, other appointees for this position have had an average of seven years of budget or finance experience, but Ms. Higginbottom has admitted that she has not had any such formal training or experience. "President O… Continue Reading
11.29.11
Congress Should Cut Its Own Budget To Have Credibility On Spending, Sessions Says
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following comment today after the passage of a non-binding resolution that expressed the "Sense of the Senate" that the Senate should cut 5 percent of its budget, but that will not actually do so. Sessions opposed the measure, urging more significant and meaningful action: "For Congress to have any credibility with the American people when it comes to spending cuts, it ought to lead to tri… Continue Reading
11.29.11
Sessions: Obama Budget Nominee Must Reject Bogus WH Claims
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, delivered the following statement today at a hearing to consider the nomination of Heather Higginbottom to be Deputy Director for the Office of Management and Budget. Unlike previous nominees for this post, Higginbottom lacks formal budget experience or training. Sessions' remarks, as prepared, follow: "I join Chairman Conrad in welcoming you to our committee today, Ms. Higginbottom.… Continue Reading
11.29.11
Sessions Speaks In Support Of Latest Spending Reduction, Stresses Need For Further Action
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, spoke on the Senate floor today in support of a continuing resolution to fund the government over the next three weeks while reducing spending by $6 billion. The measure, which passed by a vote of 87-13, follows a resolution early this month to reduce spending by $4 billion over two weeks. Congress must still agree on a continuing resolution for the remainder of the fiscal year. An excerpt… Continue Reading
11.29.11
‘The Most Irresponsible Spending Plan In Our Time’: Sessions Reacts To CBO Score, Renews Call For Honest Budgeting
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, made the following statement today after the release of the Congressional Budget Office's analysis of the president's budget, which revealed that the official White House proposal concealed an additional $2.3 trillion in deficits and, within a decade, would quadruple our nation's publicly held debt from what it was at the beginning of the 2008 fiscal year. On the heels of these revelations… Continue Reading
11.29.11
Sessions, Hatch Ask Medicare Trustees To Account For Medicare Double Counting In Next Estimate On Medicare Solvency
Dear Honorable Trustees: We strongly reject the notion that the spending reductions from and the payroll tax increases to the Medicare Hospital Insurance (HI) trust fund enacted in the new health care law (the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or PPACA) can both improve the government's ability to pay future Medicare benefits and finance new entitlement spending outside of Medicare. While we recognize your specific charge as a Medicare trustee allows you to assess the financial s… Continue Reading
11.28.11
Don’t Retreat On Spending Cuts: Sessions Argues Momentum Is On Side Of Action
"America's strength is measured not by the size of our government but by the scope of our freedoms. Endless spending, taxing, and borrowing is a certain path to decline." WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, delivered remarks on the Senate floor today explaining that Republicans stand behind a strong, immediate spending reduction to begin restoring confidence in the economy: "Government funding is set to expire next week on April 8th. So we … Continue Reading
11.28.11
Balanced Budget Amendment Would Pave Way For Unprecedented Economic Growth
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today after all 47 Republican Senators joined to introduce a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution: "In the Budget Committee we have heard countless warnings from expert after expert and witness after witness. We are on a dangerous and unsustainable path of spending and borrowing. The chairs of the president's own fiscal commission warned that the United States f… Continue Reading
11.23.11
Effects Of The Budget Control Act Sequester On Defense Spending
The Budget Control Act imposed caps on discretionary spending and provided a mechanism for achieving an additional $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction over the next 10 years through the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (the so-called supercommittee). The failure of the supercommittee to find that additional deficit reduction will cause a $1.2 trillion spending reduction over 2013-2021 through an across-the-board process known as sequestration. The sequester will achieve $492 billion in… Continue Reading
11.22.11
Sessions Comments On Committee’s Analysis Revealing True Impact Of Defense Sequestration
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today upon the release of a new Budget Committee analysis about the concrete effects of the sequester on both defense and non-defense spending. In light of the supercommittee's failure to reach a deficit reduction agreement, the disproportionate nature of defense cuts has received increased attention: "There's been much confusion over the actual effects of the sequester. This… Continue Reading
11.21.11
Sessions Remarks On Supercommittee Announcement
"Had the president made clear he wanted an agreement, a deal would have been achieved. It seems clear he wanted a campaign issue instead. Rather than confronting the great threat of our time-our $15 trillion debt-the commander-in-chief fled the battlefield." WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following remarks today regarding the news that the supercommittee had failed to reach a deficit reduction agreement: "All of us had hoped… Continue Reading
11.17.11
Citing Gimmicks And Spending Increases, Sessions To Oppose Appropriations Bill
"It is strange and bizarre that we have tasked a committee of 12 to achieve deficit reduction at the same time that Congress is working to increase the deficit with bills such as this… With the president at the helm, Washington is continuing to steer the ship of state towards financial disaster. I therefore oppose this bill and hope the president will do the same." WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, delivered the following statement… Continue Reading
11.16.11
Sessions: Debt Deal Includes Yet Another Washington Gimmick To Conceal Deficit Spending
"[Under the Budget Control Act,] we're supposed to spend $1,043 billion, down $7 billion from $1,050 billion in discretionary spending last year. Unfortunately, this is just one more empty Washington promise. Because the bill was rushed to passage in the 59th minute of the 11th hour, nobody knew the gimmick at the time… The truth is that it's not, and never was $1,043 billion, but $1,054 billion… If we can't even reach the paltry goal of $7 billion in savings, how on Earth can we t… Continue Reading
11.16.11
Questions And Concerns: What’s Really In The Gang Of Six Proposal?
When the Gang of Six constituted itself after the Fiscal Commission submitted its report in December 2010, its apparent mission was to turn the Commission's proposals into legislative language in a way that could potentially be added to the debt limit bill and that would achieve the Commission's proposed savings. Yesterday the Gang released an only an executive summary of a "bipartisan plan to reduce our nation's deficits." If the Gang had produced legislative language as it had originally inte… Continue Reading
