06.24.14

Ranking Member Sessions Opposes Donovan Nomination To Head OMB

WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today after voting in committee against the nomination of HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan to be the next director of the Office of Management and Budget:

"During this time of growing financial danger, the Office of Management and Budget should be led by one of the most disciplined and skilled financial managers in the country. Instead, in Mr. Donovan, we have an inexperienced nominee with a poor record of fiscal management and no demonstrated commitment to financial discipline.

The one agency Mr. Donovan was charged with managing, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, came under sustained scrutiny by the Inspector General during his tenure for wasting taxpayer dollars and failing to efficiently deliver public services.

This begs the obvious question: with the ability to choose from among the most skilled managers in the country, why did the President select someone with so obviously a lacking a resume? The answer, I would suggest, is that President Obama simply has no real personal commitment to strong management and government efficiency. Instead, his goal is more ‘investments’ and more spending.

Since taking office, the President has staffed his budget office with political loyalists and insiders who have ignored our perilous financial condition and taken no steps to repair it. The President’s budget office has submitted the most irresponsible budget plans in history, surging spending and debt and busting in-law spending caps—while presenting them to the public as doing the opposite. And for five consecutive years, they have flatly refused to follow plain law that requires them to submit a plan resolving Medicare’s insolvency.

Mr. Donovan has no demonstrated record or will to bring this surging government under control. Thus we continue to hurtle forward on our unsustainable path."