Sessions: President Set To Ignore Law By Not Providing Congress With Budget Update

Given the historic depth of [the nation’s] financial challenges, the Administration must submit their budget update on time and in the manner the law requires. Failure to do so would only further damage the President’s credibility on the great challenge confronting our nation.”

WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today as President Obama’s Office of Management and Budget was set to miss the July 15 statutory deadline to submit a budget update to Congress:

“President Obama indicated recently that the biggest mistake of his first term was not spending more time delivering his message. Respectfully, I think a much bigger mistake was adding $5 trillion to the debt and then producing a budget plan this year that would add another $11 trillion to the debt through 2022. Making matters worse, the law requires the President to submit a budget update to Congress—known as the Mid-Session Review—before July 16th. It appears the deadline will be breached. If produced, the Mid-Session Review would underscore that, despite the President’s assertion that his proposed tax increase would reduce the debt, any revenue from the tax hike would just be used for new spending—not deficit reduction.

Sadly, despite the enormous debt threat facing our nation, the President and his Senate majority have continually flouted budget law. The President has ignored, every year he’s been in office, the legal requirement to submit a plan to prevent Medicare’s looming insolvency (known as the ‘Medicare trigger’). And his majority in the Senate has refused to pass a budget plan for three consecutive years, failing to even bring a proposal to the Senate floor.

Congress and the American people have never had greater need for concrete budget proposals, and the President should seize this as an opportunity to provide them. This is particularly critical as Congress is facing a key continuing resolution, another debt ceiling debate, the fiscal cliff, and an economy performing well below expectations. Given the historic depth of these financial challenges, the Administration must submit their budget update on time and in the manner the law requires. Failure to do so would only further damage the President’s credibility on the great challenge confronting our nation.”

NOTE: The text of the statute requiring the Mid-Session Review follows:

§ 1106. Supplemental budget estimates and changes

(a) Before July 16 of each year, the President shall submit to Congress a supplemental summary of the budget for the fiscal year for which the budget is submitted under section 1105(a) of this title. The summary shall include--

(1) for that fiscal year--

(A) substantial changes in or reappraisals of estimates of expenditures and receipts;

(B) substantial obligations imposed on the budget after its submission;

(C) current information on matters referred to in section 1105(a)(8) and (9)(B) and (C) of this title; and

(D) additional information the President decides is advisable to provide Congress with complete and current information about the budget and current estimates of the functions, obligations, requirements, and financial condition of the United States Government;

(2) for the 4 fiscal years following the fiscal year for which the budget is submitted, information on estimated expenditures for programs authorized to continue in future years, or that are considered mandatory, under law; and

(3) for future fiscal years, information on estimated expenditures of balances carried over from the fiscal year for which the budget is submitted.

(b) Before July 16 of each year, the President shall submit to Congress a statement of changes in budget authority requested, estimated budget outlays, and estimated receipts for the fiscal year for which the budget is submitted (including prior changes proposed for the executive branch of the Government) that the President decides are necessary and appropriate based on current information. The statement shall include the effect of those changes on the information submitted under section 1105(a)(1) to (14) and (b) of this title and shall include supporting information as practicable. The statement submitted before July 16 may be included in the information submitted under subsection (a)(1) of this section.

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