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 nothing to change our unsustainable debt course. Next year alone, their budget increases spending $162 billion above what we are spending today. That is astonishing.

They offer no plan, no proposal—no attempt—to reform taxes, grow the economy, reduce poverty, fix our entitlements, or that would create good-paying jobs and rising wages. We know from academic studies that our debt over 90 percent of GDP destroys jobs and wages—their proposal locks these dangerous debt levels in place.

Republicans believe we must balance the budget in 10 years, but the majority proposal never balances—ever. We stand ready and willing to work across the aisle to balance the budget in 10 years. I hope Senators in the majority will agree to join us in this goal tomorrow.

In the majority’s plan as it now exists, debt increases $7 trillion from today’s levels, despite a massive tax hike. Their proposal increases the federal budget from $3.6 trillion today to $5.7 trillion 10 years from now—an increase of 62 percent. Excluding war costs, this represents a net increase of $645 billion above the projected surging spending growth in our existing baseline. In other words: it’s a tax-and-spend budget. Democrats are saying to the American people: you are the problem. Washington doesn’t need to change. You need to send us more money.

Their proposal goes to extraordinary lengths to shield the federal bureaucracy from any reform, even as millions of Americans are trapped in failed government programs. The Democrat budget enriches the bureaucracy at the expense of the people.

We need to grow the economy, not the government.”