Ranking Member Press
Chairman Enzi: More Action Needed from VA on GI Benefits Problems
WASHINGTON D.C. - Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi (R-WY) today said more action is needed from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) on problems that have prevented thousands of veterans from receiving their full GI Bill benefits. Since August 1, hundreds of thousands of veterans have either not received their monthly housing allowance (MHA) for the fall 2018 semester or received an incorrect amount. Chairman Enzi pressed the agency recently on what actions it was taking to addres… Continue Reading
11.29.18
Chairman Enzi Concerned with Excessive Markups on FEMA Hurricane Relief Funds
WASHINGTON D.C. - Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY), Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, sent a letter to Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) Administrator Brock Long expressing his concerns about significantly marked-up prices FEMA contractors charged for repairs to homes damaged by Hurricane Maria. Recent news stories report that more than 60 percent of what a FEMA-supported program spends on repairs to homes damaged by Hurricane Maria is spent on overhead and markups, rather than a… Continue Reading
11.19.18
Enzi Presses Veterans Affairs for Answers on Problems with GI Benefits
WASHINGTON D.C. - After recent reports that the Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) information technology (IT) systems have prevented thousands of veterans from receiving their full GI Bill benefits, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi (R-WY) pressed the agency on what actions it was taking to address this significant problem. Since August 1, hundreds of thousands of veterans have either not received their monthly housing allowance for the fall 2018 semester or received an incorrect am… Continue Reading
10.10.18
Enzi Pushes GSA to Better Manage Federal Property
WASHINGTON D.C. - Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY), Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, contacted the Administrator of the General Services Administration (GSA) about how effectively the agency manages the federal government's real property. The agency operates a vast portfolio of federal property including approximately 267,000 buildings, 496,000 structures, and 42 million acres of land, at a cost nearly $26 billion. Federal real property managed by GSA does not include public lands, which are pr… Continue Reading
10.04.18
Senate Budget Committee Republicans Press CBO on New Health Insurance Model
WASHINGTON D.C. - As part of the Senate Budget Committee's ongoing oversight of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), Republican members of the Committee sent a letter to the agency encouraging it to release details of its new health insurance simulation model (HISIM) to the public prior to its use next spring. The members also asked CBO to consider re-estimating federal spending and coverage under the Affordable Care Act using the new health care model to determine whether the agency's estima… Continue Reading
09.13.18
BUDGET BULLETIN - The Complex Case of Pell Grant Budgeting
The Pell Grant program is the largest single source of grant aid to postsecondary students, with federal spending on the program totaling $30.6 billion in fiscal year 2018. This needbased program also has one of the most complex funding structures in the federal budget, involving a mix of discretionary funding and two separate mandatory spending streams. READ MORE… Continue Reading
09.13.18
Chairman Enzi: CBO’s Analyses Must Be Timely, Objective, Accurate, and Transparent
WASHINGTON D.C. - During a Senate Budget Committee hearing focused on the Congressional Budget Office's (CBO) expanded transparency initiatives, Chairman Mike Enzi (R-WY) said that CBO should continue to focus on producing accurate and objective budget estimates in a transparent manner. "In the more than 40 years since CBO's inception, Congress and the public have come to depend on CBO for its budget and economic analyses - analyses that we all agree must be timely, objective, accurate, and tra… Continue Reading
08.02.18
BUDGET BULLETIN - Appropriations with Expired Authorizations
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) recently updated its annual Expired and Expiring Authorizations of Appropriations report to reflect enactment of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018. The updated report shows that of the $1.4 trillion in discretionary spending provided for 2018, $318 billion was spent on 1,035 agencies, programs, and functions with expired authorizations of appropriations from 261 different laws. View the August 2 Budget Bulletin online here.… Continue Reading
07.19.18
Chairmen Enzi and Alexander Request Report on Cost of Student Loan Repayments
WASHINGTON D.C. - Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi (R-WY) and Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) are asking the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to examine the effects of federal student loan policies on borrowing, loan repayment, cancellation, discharge, and forgiveness. The chairmen are seeking information on income-driven-repayment (IDR) plans. IDR plans allow student borrowers to pay a percentage of their discretionary income e… Continue Reading
07.18.18
BUDGET BULLETIN - Cap Adjustments: How the Government Raises Its Spending Limit
The 2011 Budget Control Act (BCA) allows for several cap adjustments to increase spending for specified purposes without triggering a breach of statutory spending limits. These adjustments, which have grown in number in successive spending deals, have supported a staggering $890 billion in discretionary spending beyond the BCA's base caps. View the July 18 Budget Bulletin online here.… Continue Reading
07.17.18
Budget Chairmen Urge Conference Committee to Prioritize Veterans within Existing Spending Limits
WASHINGTON, DC - This week, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi (R-WY) and House Budget Committee Chairman Steve Womack (AR-03) sent a letter to the members of the conference committee for H.R. 5895, the Energy and Water, Legislative Branch and Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act, 2019. In the letter, the chairmen urged conferees to prioritize funding for the programs authorized in the VA MISSION Act, which was signed into law on June 6, 2018, within existing spe… Continue Reading
07.12.18
Senate Budget Members Make Bipartisan Request for GAO Study of DOD Financial IT Systems
WASHINGTON D.C. - Building on previous Senate Budget Committee oversight work on the DOD audit, Chairman Mike Enzi (R-WY), Ranking Member Bernard Sanders (I-VT), Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA), and Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) today requested the Government Accountability Office conduct an independent review of the Department of Defense's plans to acquire modern financial information technology systems capable of generating reliable information and supporting credible financial statements. This reque… Continue Reading
06.28.18
BUDGET BULLETIN - Changes in Mandatory Programs: An Overspending Tool
View the June 28 Budget Bulletin online here.… Continue Reading
06.27.18
Chairman Enzi Urges Select Committee on Budget Reform to Consider 2-Year Appropriations Process
WASHINGTON D.C. - Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi (R-WY) urged members of the Joint Select Committee on Budget and Appropriations Process Reform to consider moving Congress to a biennial appropriations system, which would provide funding for two years instead of one and allow lawmakers more time to develop and scrutinize government spending. Enzi has led bipartisan efforts in the Senate Budget Committee to explore and reform the budget process. "Our budget and appropriations process … Continue Reading
06.19.18
Senate Budget Committee Members Press HHS on Billions of Improper Payments in Medicare and Medicaid
WASHINGTON D.C. - Republican members of the Senate Budget Committee sent a letter to Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar today on his agency's plan to address the $89 billion of improper payments made within the Medicare and Medicaid programs each year. Budget Chairman Mike Enzi (R-WY) led fellow committee members Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Ron Johnson (R-WI), Bob Corker (R-TN), David Perdue (R-GA), John Boozman (R-AR), John Kennedy (R-LA), Cory Gardner (R-CO), Pat Toom… Continue Reading
06.07.18
BUDGET BULLETIN - Spending Caps and the New Fiscal Cliff
The two-year bipartisan budget law enacted in February significantly increased discretionary spending levels through fiscal year 2019, setting up a $126 billion spending cliff for 2020. View the June 7, 2018 Budget Bulletin online here.… Continue Reading
05.23.18
Enzi: Increased Fiscal Oversight Needed for Govt. Programs, Agencies and Activities
WASHINGTON D.C. - During a Senate Budget Committee hearing on the Government Accountability Office's annual report focused on additional opportunities to reduce fragmentation, overlap, and duplication in the federal government, Chairman Mike Enzi (R-WY) said diligent oversight of the programs, agencies, and activities currently being funded is key to addressing these issues. "It is no secret that the federal government spends beyond its means. Our national debt has eclipsed $21 trillion, and th… Continue Reading
05.07.18
Chairman Enzi Files Topline Numbers to Establish FY 19 Senate Budget Framework and Enforcement
WASHINGTON D.C. - Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY), Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, today filed the topline spending numbers included in the Bipartisan Budget Act (BBA) of 2018 enacted in February. This filing allows the Senate Appropriations Committee to begin its work on annual spending bills immediately. It also allows the Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee to enforce the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 and points of order. "Filing the topline spending numbers will allow Congressiona… Continue Reading
04.11.18
Chairman Enzi: CBO Report Shines Spotlight on Nation’s Unsustainable Fiscal Outlook
WASHINGTON D.C. - During a Senate Budget Committee hearing on the Congressional Budget Office's Budget and Economic Outlook for fiscal years 2018 through 2028, Chairman Mike Enzi (R-WY) said the CBO report shines a spotlight on the country's unsustainable fiscal outlook. "Automatic spending programs like Social Security and Medicare are growing disproportionally to their revenue and outpacing the economy," said Chairman Enzi. "This spending will soon consume all the taxes and revenues the fed… Continue Reading
03.28.18
Chairman Enzi Continues Work to Streamline Early Education Programs
WASHINGTON D.C. - Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY), Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, is continuing his work to streamline federal early learning and child care programs. He recently wrote to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar requesting his help to consolidate fragmented and overlapping early education programs. In 2012 and 2014, the Government Accountability Office issued reports citing 45 separate federal early learning and child care programs and recommending that the secretaries … Continue Reading
