10.27.11

Sessions Calls on President to Submit New, Concrete Budget Plan to Congress

   WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today following the announcement that the President will deliver a speech this week on deficit reduction:

“The President recently submitted a budget to Congress that was the most irresponsible spending plan any President has ever put forward. Today’s announcement that the President will deliver an address this week on deficit reduction is an apparent recognition that the budget plan he submitted to Congress, as required by law, fails to address our dire fiscal challenges. However, it will not be sufficient for the President to simply make a speech. Instead, he must fulfill his duty as president and submit a new budget plan to Congress specifically setting forth the changes he wishes to make to his previous proposal, including both mandatory and discretionary savings. The President’s vision, whatever it is, must be presented in a detailed, concrete form. CBO must be able to score it and I and the Budget Committees in the House and Senate must be able to scrutinize it. I am uneasy that this announcement has been made not by a substantive policy official such as his budget director or Treasury Secretary but by the President’s top political advisor.

By law, three bodies in Washington must present a budget: the House, the Senate, and the White House. The Republican House proposed last week the most serious effort I have seen during my career to address our nation’s long-term fiscal challenges. I anxiously await an equally serious proposal from the Democrat Senate and White House. Another Washington-style tax-and-spend plan will not be acceptable.”

[Note: Although the Democrat-led Senate has yet to present a budget, Congress is required, under the Budget Act, to pass a concurrent budget resolution by April 15th]