10.17.13

Sessions Issues Statement After Voting Against Debt Hike, Spending Bill

WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement tonight after voting against legislation to increase the debt limit and to adopt a "continuing resolution" without reforms:

"In the last five years, Washington spent more than $15 trillion and added more than $6 trillion to the debt. Never has so great a sum been spent for so little in return. Despite this huge stimulus spending, wages are lower than in 1999 and nearly 60 million working-age Americans aren’t working. Fewer people are employed today than in 2007.

But Leader Reid and the White House have adopted the extreme stance that there is to be no change in policy to help the millions of Americans being squeezed out of the middle class.

They demanded yet another increase in the debt limit—without cutting one single penny of spending. They demanded the unfettered implementation of Obamacare—a law that will add $6 trillion to the long-term debt while causing millions of hardworking people to lose their jobs and health plans, forced into part-time work that can’t support a family. And they even demanded that we spend above the Budget Control Act—a transparent effort to permanently bust federal spending caps.

Now is not the time to pivot to the next issue. We’ll hit a new debt limit next year. We must stay focused on the central issue. With falling wages, $1 trillion in welfare spending, and a massive health law that no one can afford, now is the time to pursue a national reform agenda that serves working Americans. Struggling workers deserve a sound financial future—one with better wages, better incomes, and a better plan than borrowing money to mail more government checks."