Oversight

10.17.11

SBC White Paper On Education In America: It’s Not About The Money

"Money does not necessarily correlate with student achievement… in this country in the last 30 years, we have more than doubled the amount of money we are spending per child… and the results have gotten worse, not better." - Michelle Rhee, former D.C. Public Schools Chancellor, February 9, 2011 As the United States concludes its third consecutive year of deficits over $1 trillion, mounting more debt on future generations, the Obama Administration continues to call for increase… Continue Reading


10.14.11

Sessions On CLASS Act Termination: ‘Very Troubling Questions Remain’

"Very troubling questions remain about why this crucial information was not disclosed prior to the bill's passage and I continue to believe that the Senate Budget Committee's majority should hold a hearing with Secretary Sibelius at once." WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today regarding the notification from the Obama Administration that it was dismantling the controversial CLASS Act program, the sustainabi… Continue Reading


10.14.11

Bipartisan Senate Budget Committee Leaders Submit Recommendations On Process Reform To Deficit Reduction Joint Committee

WASHINGTON-Senate Budget Committee Ranking Member Jeff Sessions (R-AL) and Chairman Kent Conrad (D-ND) today submitted bipartisan recommendations to the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction. The two Budget Committee leaders urged the panel to strengthen the congressional budget process and to switch to a two-year, or biennial, budget cycle. Upon release of the letter, the text of which is pasted below, Sessions issued the following statement: "I'm pleased that Chairman Conrad and I have… Continue Reading


10.14.11

Sessions, Ryan: 900 Days Since Senate Democrats Offered Budget Plan Is ‘National Disgrace’

WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, and U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), Chairman of the House Budget Committee, issued the following joint statement today to mark the 900th day since Senate Democrats last adopted a formal budget plan as required by the Congressional Budget Act: "America is greatly in need of strong, competent leadership. Our nation's total debt is now larger than our entire economy. Unemployment is painfully high and growth is … Continue Reading


10.12.11

2011 Medicare/Social Security Trustees’ Report Analysis

[To read Ranking Member Hatch's press statement click here]. Today the Social Security and Medicare Trustees issued their annual reports on the financial status of the two programs. The following are the major highlights from the 2011 Trustees' reports: Social Security Social Security is now permanently cash negative. Absent intra-governmental payments to the Trust Fund, Social Security is unable to pay benefits funded solely by the payroll tax. The Social Security Trust Fund 75-year unf… Continue Reading


10.12.11

By The Numbers: Dem Leaders’ Failure To Confront Fiscal Danger Brings Us To Edge Of Shutdown

Experts warn that our uncontrolled spending threatens our whole economy. But as House Republicans have put forward bills to both fund the government responsibly in the short term and confront our fiscal challenges in the long term, Democrat leaders in Washington have not put forward a single serious proposal to cut spending. Instead, they have offered only excuses, objections, and resistance every step of the way. Asked in an interview on FOX News last night why Democrats did not pass a budget… Continue Reading


10.12.11

Action Alert: Controversial Budget Nominee Headed For Vote Today

STUNNINGLY INEXPERIENCED NOMINEE UP FOR KEYBUDGET POST; DEMONSTRATED TROUBLING LACK OF CANDOR AND KNOWLEDGE IN TESTIMONY A critical position at a critical agency at a critical time: This afternoon, the Senate Budget Committee is scheduled to vote on the controversial nomination of Heather Higginbottom to be President Obama's deputy budget director at the Office of Management and Budget. Ms. Higginbottom would assume this key post at a time when our nation faces a historic financial threat. Th… Continue Reading


10.12.11

Borrowing The Future: A Summary Of President Obama’s FY12 Education Budget Request

The president tells the American people that his FY 2012 budget "asks Washington to live within its means," but his request for the Department of Education shows how far this rhetoric is from reality. After spending nearly $300 billion on education over the last three years, the president is requesting $77.4 billion for the department, an 11-percent increase from the current funding level. By the end of the decade, surging federal spending will require annual interest payments of $844 billion, … Continue Reading


10.12.11

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, and increasing the burden of debt on each and every American. Spends Too Much: $8.7 Trillion In New Spending Despite this year's $1.6 trillion deficit, the president still refuses to change course and reduce spending. Under his budget, the size of governm… Continue Reading


10.12.11

Under President Obama’s Spending “Freeze,” The Debt Will Grow $4 Trillion In 5 Years

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 us down the path to a total debt[2] of $21.2 trillion by 2016-well over 100 percent of GDP. The levels locked in by the "freeze" foll… Continue Reading


10.12.11

Democrats Take Heat For Skipping Budget As Spending And Debt Spiral Out Of Control

"…Democrats still run the Senate... When it comes to their core responsibility under the law of passing a budget resolution, they are A.W.O.L." Wall Street Journal (Cool Hand Harry) "While Mr. Obama has tried to set parameters for budget negotiations, his party has yet to settle on a plan for Medicare or the broader budget issues. And failure to address the nation's fiscal problems aggressively could carry its own risk for Democrats..." New York Times (Democrats Put G.O.P. On Spot As Med… Continue Reading


10.11.11

Sessions: President’s Jobs Bill Rejected Over Substance, Not Politics

WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today as voting continued on proceeding to President Obama's second stimulus bill, with members on both sides of the aisle voting in opposition: "The president has demanded a jobs bill vote and he got it. The Senate tonight is set to reject his latest tax-and-spend plan that would dig our debt hole nearly $500 billion deeper and increase taxes. This bill was not rejected for… Continue Reading


10.06.11

Budget Republicans Call For Hearing To Uncover Why CLASS Act Warnings Were Not Made Public

"Transparency is crucial… There are a number of important questions that remain unanswered." WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, and U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-SD), Chairman of the Republican Policy Committee, were joined today by Republican Members of the Senate Budget Committee in sending a letter to Chairman Kent Conrad to request a hearing on the CLASS Act, a long-term care program created as part of the president's health care law. … Continue Reading


10.05.11

Sessions, Snowe Unveil ‘Honest Budget Act’ To Strip Away Washington’s Most Outrageous Gimmicks

WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, and U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, today announced the introduction of the Honest Budget Act, a nine-plank legislative package that targets Washington's most dishonest budget gimmicks and accounting tricks: "Washington relies on an astonishing array of dishonest budget gimmicks to enable and conceal countless billions in federa… Continue Reading


10.04.11

The Deficit Of Leadership: President’s Disappointing Speech Only Raises More Questions

Deficit ReductionThe president claimed deficit reduction of $1.2 trillion dollars over 10 years in his last budget. CBO said it would increase deficits by $2.7 trillion. Is the president's new claim based on the same discredited assumptions in his last budget? Non-Security SpendingThe president says he will now freeze non-security discretionary spending in 2012 at the 2011 level. He claims this will reduce deficits by $600 billion over 10 years. What programs will be cut? Will the president red… Continue Reading


10.04.11

The Spending Binge Continues: GAO Exposes Billions In Waste, Duplication

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 identifies 34 broad areas of duplication as well as 47 additional areas of potential savings. In all, GAO … Continue Reading


10.04.11

CBO Confirms: Obama’s Budget Assumptions Were Detached From Reality

The budget that the Obama Administration presented to Congress on February 14th pushes our nation further down an unsustainable path: growing the government, weakening the economy, and increasing the burden of debt on each and every American. Now, the Congressional Budget Office has confirmed that the president's budget conceals an additional $2.3 trillion in deficits. In nearly every major area, CBO gave the president's plan a lower grade than the Administration gave itself. The Administrati… Continue Reading


10.04.11

Swift Action Needed On Spending Reduction As Experts Warn Of Rising Debt

"Bill Gross, who runs the world's biggest bond fund at Pacific Investment Management Co., eliminated government-related debt from his flagship fund last month as the U.S. projected record budget deficits." - Bloomberg, "Pimco's Gross Eliminates Government Debt From Total Return Fund," March 10, 2011 "We believe that if we do not take decisive action our nation faces the most predictable economic crisis in its history." - written testimony of Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, Budget Committee hea… Continue Reading


10.04.11

The $4 Trillion Gimmick: President’s ‘Framework’ To Reduce The Deficit By $4 Trillion Would Grow It $2.2 Trillion Beyond CBO Baseline

The American people deserve an honest, fact-based budget. Instead the president's deficit speech was the biggest gimmick yet. An analysis of the president's April 13 speech from the Republican staff of the Senate Budget Committee exposes the president's claim that he has a revised budget framework which will result in $4 trillion dollars in deficit reduction. The analysis reveals that the president's new framework is simply a rhetorically repackaged version of the budget he submitted on Februar… Continue Reading


10.04.11

Sessions Encourages Adoption Of Biennial Budget Reform

"I have long-supported [biennial budget] legislation and am eager to begin renewed work on this proposal… But the process reform will achieve little if we don't address the underlying problem: the ideology of big government. As long as Washington operates under the idea that the federal government is the first and best solution to all our problems, then our budget will always tend to be too large, too hard to manage, and place too heavy a burden on the economy." WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff… Continue Reading

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