Ranking Member News
Enzi takes on bipartisan budget reform in Congress
by Laura Hancock
Threatened federal government shutdowns. Spending bills that exceed limits negotiated by Congress. Concocted emergencies to justify loans. And no way for the public to follow the money. These are all dysfunctions of the current budgeting and spending process in Washington, U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi says. And the Republican, who leads the Senate Budget Committee, is working with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to reform the process. "We have a broken budget process," Wyoming's senior U.… Continue Reading
09.20.16
Senate Budget Chairman Proposes a Cure for Congress' Addiction to Continuing Resolutions
by Charles S. Clark
Congress' frustrating budget stalemates and addiction to end-of-session continuing resolutions could be eliminated under a new set of reform proposals detailed on Monday by Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., chairman of the Budget Committee. An accountant who points proudly to firm spending decisions made by the legislature in Wyoming, Enzi has been holding hearings and rolling out budget reform proposals for much of this year. To his earlier calls for biennial budgeting and a new fiscal commission to ta… Continue Reading
08.11.16
Enzi Gains Support From Outside Congress for Budget Overhaul
by Paul M. Krawzak
A bipartisan group that advocates changes in the budget process expressed support Thursday for several that were suggested by Senate Budget Chairman Michael B. Enzi. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget released a paper explaining why it backs Enzi's proposals to end the vote-a-rama practice, set aside dedicated time to consider appropriations bills and make the Senate budget resolution and amendments available in advance, among other proposals. Enzi, R-Wyo., released a dozen or so p… Continue Reading
07.17.16
Return to supercommittee mulled in Senate
by Joseph Lawler
Although overshadowed by the presidential campaign, a serious move is underway in Congress to try to end the dysfunction around the budget process and set up new fiscal commissions to reduce the debt. The effort, led by Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi and bipartisan interlocutors, is not an attempt to reach a grand bargain or solve any of the fiscal problems that face the country. Instead, the senators are discussing overhauling the way Congress sets budgets and appropriates funds t… Continue Reading
07.14.16
Budget reforms would end Senate vote-a-rama
by JOSEPH LAWLER (@JOSEPHLAWLER)
The former accountant has only a small window of opportunity, however. He said in May that any reforms would need to be enacted before the November elections, so that neither party would know whose majority or White House would be affected by the reforms. Congress has scheduled only five more weeks of work before voters head to the polls, thanks to lengthy summer breaks for both chambers. Stay abreast of the latest developments from nation's capital and beyond with curated News Alerts … Continue Reading
07.13.16
Senate Budget Overhaul Ideas from Enzi
by Jennifer Shutt and Paul M. Krawzak
Eliminating the vote-a-rama, making it tougher to waive budget points of order and creating enforceable, long-term fiscal targets are among ideas for overhauling the budget process that Senate Budget Chairman Michael B. Enzi will unveil Wednesday, according to a document obtained by CQ. Moreover, the Wyoming Republican is saying these concepts have gained some level of bipartisan support on the committee. An aide said Enzi still wants to mark up budget process overhaul legislation before the en… Continue Reading
07.13.16
Budget chairman proposes bipartisan overhaul of congressional budget process
by Tom Howell Jr.
Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi on Wednesday will propose the first bipartisan overhaul of Congress' budget process in four decades, saying lawmakers should outline two years of spending at a time and then stick to their plans. The Wyoming Republican hopes to put an end to the last-minute deadline showdowns that have plagued Capitol Hill over the last six years by forcing the Senate to debate spending bills soon after the annual budget is finished. "Instead of a functioning appropri… Continue Reading
06.09.16
Hill Budget Committees Rev Up Reform Engines
by John Shaw
WASHINGTON (MNI) - The House and Senate Budget committees are trying to rev up their budget reform engines this week, with a House hearing and a private Senate meeting on the matter. These efforts are part of a broader bid to draft legislation this summer that would overhaul the congressional budget process. The House Budget Committee is holding a hearing Thursday at 9:30 a.m. ET on budget process reforms, focusing on entitlement spending and funding for unauthorized programs. A panel of fisca… Continue Reading
06.06.16
Senate Budget Members to Huddle With Two Former Chairmen on Overhaul This Week
by Jennifer Shutt, CQ Roll Call
Former Senate Budget Committee chairmen Judd Gregg and Kent Conrad will meet with current committee members on Wednesday to talk about overhauling the budget process. A committee aide told CQ that the closed-door meeting, which will be followed by a private roundtable question-and-answer session, is part of an ongoing effort by Budget Committee Chairman Michael B. Enzi to change key elements in Congress' budget process. The meeting will be closed to the public and the press, so lawmakers can "… Continue Reading
05.13.16
Top Senators Make A Case For A Better Budget Process
by Juliwegrace Brufke
The Senate's seeming inability to pass a budget is not due to party conflicts but the budget process itself, two top senators said during a panel discussion at the Peterson Foundation 2016 Fiscal Summit in Washington, D.C. Wednesday. Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi of Wyoming said the process isn't substantive and is often used for political purposes. He cited how the upper chamber had a budget last year, managed to pass 11 of the twelve spending bills, yet still ultimately ended up … Continue Reading
04.21.16
Chairman Enzi Vows a Bipartisan Budget Process Overhaul
by Jennifer Shutt, CQ Roll Call
Senate Budget Chairman Michael B. Enzi on Wednesday refrained from specifying what changes to the federal budget process could be drafted into an overhaul bill he hopes to release in May. But he said he plans to produce a proposal that would garner support from committee Democrats and that President Barack Obama would be willing to sign before the end of the year, an ambitious timetable. "The main focus is coming up with a budget that is transparent and enforceable, which we don't have now. An… Continue Reading
04.15.16
The Broken Budget Process & How Mike Enzi Wants to Fix it
by Michelle Cottle
If it's April, it must be budget season in Congress-or, more specifically, time for Congress to blow its annual budget deadline. April 15 is the official target. But no one takes that seriously. Often, lawmakers spend an extra month or so hammering out a budget resolution. More often these days, they opt not to pass one at all. Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi, for one, is fed up. Looking to spotlight the insanity, he is holding a series of hearings this month exploring "How to fix th… Continue Reading
03.09.16
Retirement calculator suffered from ‘coding error'; senators press for more answers
by Jory Heckman
In a letter to Sens. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) and Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), CFPB Director Richard Cordray said there are legitimate reasons why the agency's retirement calculator produced different results from a similar tool available on the Social Security Administration's website. "The Bureau appreciates the Committee's concern regarding certain differences in estimates," Cordray wrote. "We share this concern, so Bureau staff worked to ensure our tool is both informative and reliable … burea… Continue Reading
02.17.16
Federal Agencies to Receive Audit Into Their PR Spending
by Eric Katz
The Government Accountability Office is launching an investigation to shed a light on a sector of federal agency spending long kept in the shadows: advertising. GAO's announcement came after some powerful lawmakers have pressed agencies for more disclosure into their spending on public relations and advertising. A 2014 Congressional Research Service report found agencies spent $893 million on advertising contracts in fiscal 2013, and nearly $4.7 billion between fiscal years 2009 and 2013. GAO w… Continue Reading
02.03.16
Meet your unauthorized federal government
by DANNY VINIK
The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Agency, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have not been reauthorized by Congress since 2009. The State Department hasn't been reauthorized since 2003. For the Federal Trade Commission and National Weather Service, it's 1998 and 1993, respectively. The Federal Election Commission has been operating with an expired authorization since way back in 1981. Meet your unauthorized government. Every federal agency is su… Continue Reading
01.19.16
Why Is the Government Spending $310 Billion on ‘Unauthorized’ Programs?
by Martin Matishak
The federal government is on pace to spend around $310 billion in 2016 on programs that have expired, according to a new analysis by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The 166-page annual report, titled "Unauthorized Appropriations and Expiring Authorizations," looks at all programs and entities funded through the annual appropriations process that at one time had an explicit authorization from Congress through any number of hundreds of various laws that have since expired. Th… Continue Reading
01.06.16
Lawmakers Want Answers On Consumer Agency’s Faulty Retirement Benefit Planner
by JULIEGRACE BRUFKE
Republican senators want answers on why a retirement calculator created by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is providing flawed results. In a letter written to CFPB director Richard Cordray in December, Senate Committee on the Budget Chairman Mike Enzi of Wyoming and Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Chairman Richard Shelby of Alabama questioned why government funds were used to create a tool for a service already provided by the Social Security Administrati… Continue Reading
01.05.16
Senate Republicans blast consumer panel's glitchy retirement calculator
by Sylvan Lane
Two top Senate Republicans are asking a consumer protection agency why an online retirement planning tool offers incorrect guidance to users. Sens. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) and Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), chairmen of the Senate Budget and Banking committees, asked the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) why its retirement calculator doesn't square with one offered by the Social Security Administration (SSA) online. The senators cite inconsistencies between the two tools, both meant to aid users … Continue Reading
11.03.15
The Budget's Broken. It's Time to Fix It
by Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY)
The recent spending and debt deal clearly illustrates that the federal budget process is in serious need of reform. America's current budget challenges are directly related to this breakdown and fixing it can put the country on a more responsible spending path going forward. If there was any doubt that the federal budget process is broken, consider this: Congress has passed budget resolutions in less than half of the last 15 fiscal years, and prior to this year's balanced budget resolution, the… Continue Reading
10.23.15
Senate GOP seeks to rein in Obama on regs
by Jordain Carney
Senate Republicans are rolling out a new way to clarify what regulation authority a law gives to federal agencies, suggesting it could help curb incorrect interpretations by the Obama administration. Republican Sens. Mike Enzi (Wyo.), Mike Crapo (Idaho), Kelly Ayotte (N.H.) and Steve Daines (Mont.) have introduced legislation that would allow lawmakers to pass concurrent resolutions to explain the meaning of a law and what authority it gives to federal agencies. According to the bill, fed… Continue Reading
