Ranking Member News
The unglamorous job of federal budgeting
by Sen. Michael B. Enzi and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse
OPINION - It is no secret that a vast majority of Americans disapprove of the job Congress is doing. Too often our political debates are characterized by hyperpartisanship, rather than achieving meaningful outcomes for the American people. Nowhere is this problem more acute than when it comes to our inability to address our country's unsustainable fiscal course. Our current budget process is broken, as evidenced by mounting debt and deficits, a patchwork of temporary spending bills, government … Continue Reading
11.04.19
Bipartisan Senate Bill Seeks Major Reforms in Budget Process
by MARK TAPSCOTT
Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) and committee member Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) introduced the "Bipartisan Congressional Budget Reform Act" to provide "a more orderly, deliberative budget process focused on long-term fiscal planning." Enzi and Whitehouse added in a statement announcing their proposal that they believe "it would end the brinksmanship surrounding the debt limit and encourage bipartisan collaboration in tackling our growing debt and deficits." Co-spo… Continue Reading
11.01.19
Fair and Smart Budget Reforms Deserve Vote
by Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget
Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi (R-WY) and committee member Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) released bipartisan legislation Friday to reform the federal budget process. The legislation is co-sponsored by Senators Grassley (R-IA), Kaine (D-VA), Crapo (R-ID), King (I-ME), Graham (R-SC), Coons (D-DE), Barrasso (R-WY), Blunt (R-MO), Johnson (R-WI), Perdue (R-GA), Kennedy (R-LA), Cramer (R-ND), and Braun (R-IN). The following is a statement from Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committe… Continue Reading
10.23.19
ENZI CRITICIZES PENSION BAILOUT, SAYING IT WOULD COST TAXPAYERS
by Brendan LaChance
CASPER, Wyo. - Wyoming's United States Senator Mike Enzi criticized the "Rehabilitation for Multiemployer Plans Act of 2019" in a speech on the floor of the Senate. The bill has passed the U.S. House of Representatives, but a Wednesday, Oct. 23 statement from Enzi's office says if it becomes law, it "would bail out some of the worst-funded multiemployer pension plans at taxpayers' expense." "'My concern with this bill is not just with its immediate costs to taxpayers, but also what it would me… Continue Reading
10.17.19
Senate Budget Committee Makes Budget Reports Available for the Public Online
by Allen Johnson
Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY), Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, announced the first release of a new Senate scorekeeping report. The report will provide regular budgetary updates to promote transparency in federal spending. The Congressional Budget Act of 1974 requires Chairmen of House and Senate Budget Committees to provide members of Congress with regular updates on the effects that congressional actions have on the budget. Up until now, to comply with the law, Chairman Enzi compared cu… Continue Reading
10.08.19
Enzi's Proposals Aim to Improve the Budget Process
by CFRB
Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi (R-WY) has developed a series of draft budget process reforms. As we've explained before, the current budget process is broken. We commend Chairman Enzi's effort to begin fixing the process, and we encourage policymakers in both parties to work with Chairman Enzi on adopting a better budget process. Chairman Enzi's latest recommendations build on proposals from 2016 and follow a series of hearings this year. The recommendations include moving to bienni… Continue Reading
09.15.19
Survey Finds 53 Percent of Likely Voters Oppose Pension Bailout
by MARK TAPSCOTT
A national survey of likely voters found a majority of them oppose a taxpayer-funded bailout of ailing union pension plans approved earlier this year by the Democratic majority in the House of Representatives. "The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 53 percent of likely U.S. voters oppose a taxpayer bailout of underfunded union pension funds," the survey firm said Sept. 14. "Just 26 percent support a pension bailout. A sizable 21 percent are undecided." Am… Continue Reading
09.10.19
CBO: Proposed Bailout of Failing Union Pensions Funds Will Not Work, as Loans Will Go Unpaid
by MARK TAPSCOTT
READ the CBO Estimate HERE WASHINGTON-Dozens of seriously under-funded trade union pension plans will not repay millions of dollars in tax-funded government loans intended to help them regain financial integrity and pay promised benefits, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). "CBO projects that about one-quarter of the affected pension plans would become insolvent in the 30-year loan period and would not fully repay their loans," the congressional agency told Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wy… Continue Reading
09.09.19
CBO: Union pensions still facing insolvency under rescue bill
by Doug Sword
READ the CBO Estimate HERE A labor-backed pension rescue measure pushed by House and Senate Democrats would only delay the projected insolvency of some ailing union retirement plans, according to new Congressional Budget Office estimates released at Senate Budget Chairman Michael B. Enzi's request. The bill (HR 397) passed the House 264-169 in July with 29 Republicans joining a unified Democratic caucus. But top Republicans like Ways and Means ranking member Kevin Bradyof Texas and Education a… Continue Reading
09.01.19
A first step toward budget process reform
by JONATHAN BYDLAK
The problems with budgeting in the United States are so well-established that one might say the dysfunction has become a feature, not a bug. Legislators do not budget according to any rules - at least not since the mid-1990s. The way the current process is supposed to work - budget, then authorize then appropriate - was established in the 1974 Budget Act, legislation that arose out of a standoff between President Nixon and Congress over the former's overuse of impoundment power to withhold fund… Continue Reading
08.16.19
Editorial misleads on tax cuts, federal budget woes
by Sen. Mike Enzi
A recent editorial ("Our View: Deficit would be zero if not for tax cuts," Aug. 11) criticizing tax relief for American families and job creators makes a number of misleading assertions and glosses over uncomfortable facts that we as a nation must confront. Our country is on an unsustainable fiscal course, but this situation did not arise overnight or as result of the 2017 tax reform, which reduced the taxes for workers in every income bracket on average. In fact, last week the nonpartisan Con… Continue Reading
08.15.19
Pursuing Budget Process Reform
by Gordon Gray
Eakinomics: Pursuing Budget Process ReformGuest authored by Gordon Gray, Director of Fiscal Policy at AAF When President Trump signed the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2019 into law on August 2nd, Congress officially cleared the decks of much of its must-do legislating for the next 2 years. Given the dim prospects of serious policymaking during a presidential campaign, perhaps this 2-year agreement is just a practical necessity. But not all policymakers are resigned to meaningless "messaging." Sena… Continue Reading
08.14.19
Senator Enzi Restarts the Discussion on Budget Reform
by Demian Brady
The problems with the current budget process are legion. The timetables established in the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 are rarely met, resulting in government shutdowns, omnibus budget bills, and, with the exception of a handful of years, annual deficit spending. The abomination known as the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2019 is the latest illustration of how bad the budgeting process is in Congress. One of its many serious flaws is that it eliminated the remaining two years of caps on discret… Continue Reading
08.07.19
Congress Should Move Forward on Budget Process Reform
by Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget
Last week, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi (R-WY) released a series of discussion drafts with proposals to reform the federal budget process. The following is a statement from Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. So far, this year has featured the longest government shutdown in history and a massive unpaid-for spending increase but no budget resolution passed by either chamber. If it wasn't clear before, it should be now - the federal budget p… Continue Reading
08.05.19
Senator Enzi “Troubled” by Delays and Cost Overruns of NASA Programs
by Andrew Parsonson
The chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, Senator Mike Enzi has expressed concern that several NASA programs have suffered severe delays and cost overruns. In open letter to NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine dated July 30, the Senator from Wyoming expressed concern that cost overruns and delays of NASA programs "could jeopardize futures missions." The senator cited a May 2019 report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) that detailed the statuses of agency's current portfolio of 2… Continue Reading
08.03.19
Senator criticizes cost and schedule issues with NASA programs
by Jeff Foust
Updated 12:30 p.m. Eastern Aug. 4 with response from Bridenstine. WASHINGTON - The chairman of a key Senate committee said he's "troubled" by cost and schedule growth on major NASA programs and is asking the agency for more information on their status. Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, said Aug. 1 he sent a two-page letter to NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine July 30 expressing his concern about cost and schedule performance on a number of major programs, citin… Continue Reading
08.02.19
Senate Budget Chair Unveils Plan to Overhaul Congress’s Broken Budget Process
by Yuval Rosenberg
Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi (R-WY), who is retiring after his term ends in 2020, this week unveiled a set of proposals to reform the congressional budget process - among them, remaking the committee he now leads into a Fiscal Control Committee that would include the heads of the appropriations and finance committees as nonvoting members if they are not already voting members. "We can all agree that the current budget and spending system has broken down," Enzi said. "I am hopeful … Continue Reading
08.02.19
Senate budget chair takes NASA to task on SLS, Webb setbacks
by JACQUELINE FELDSCHER
BUDGET CHAIR: SLS, WEBB TELESCOPE 'RISK VITAL NASA MISSIONS.' Sen. Mike Enzi, the Wyoming Republican who chairs the Senate Budget Committee, told NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine this week he is "troubled" by cost overruns and delays on several major NASA programs that "put at risk vital NASA missions and taxpayer dollars." The two main culprits, of course: Boeing's Space Launch System rocket, which is nearly two years behind schedule, and the Northrop Grumman-managed James Webb Space Telescop… Continue Reading
07.31.19
Senate Budget Chair Proposes Major Changes To Budget Process
by Alec Larson
The plan includes, among other things, increasing the debt ceiling every two years. On Tuesday, outgoing Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi released a list of proposals he says will overhaul the budget process. Enzi's plan involves, among other things, making changes to the Senate Budget Committee itself. It would rename it the "Fiscal Control Committee" and would add the chairmen and ranking members of the appropriations and finance committees. Another major point of Enzi's plan… Continue Reading
07.30.19
Enzi shares plans for revamping budget process
by Paul Krawzak
Senate Budget Chairman Michael B. Enzi unveiled a sweeping proposal Tuesday to overhaul the budget process at what could be an opportune time. With the 2011-era discretionary spending caps set to expire in fiscal 2021 and annual deficits soon projected to top $1 trillion a year, Congress could be more open than usual to ways to revamp the budget process. Enzi, R-Wyo., has written four draft bills aimed at tightening fiscal controls, strengthening budget enforcement, commissioning additional s… Continue Reading
