Ranking Member Press
Keith Hall to Succeed Doug Elmendorf as Director of Congressional Budget Office
WASHINGTON, DC - U.S. Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY), Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, joined today with House Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price (R-GA) to announce the appointment of Dr. Keith Hall to serve as Director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). Hall's term would end on January 3, 2019. "Dr. Hall has more than 20 years of distinguished government service, including as Chief Economist for the White House Council of Economic Advisers and as Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor … Continue Reading
02.25.15
Chairman Enzi: America’s Booming Debt Threatens Our National and Economic Security
Click here to watch Chairman Enzi's opening statement. WASHINGTON, DC - During a hearing on the nation's debt today, U.S. Senator Mike Enzi, Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, noted that America's current debt is the biggest our country has ever owed and endangers our government and hurts the nation's economic potential. "If we don't stand up to our debt and stop overspending, we'll ruin what so many generations before us have worked to build as well as the hopes of generations to come,"… Continue Reading
02.11.15
Chairman Enzi: Modernize Disability Insurance to avoid program insolvency
U.S. Senator Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, spoke this morning about the looming insolvency of the Social Security Disability Trust Fund. In his opening statement before the Senate Budget Committee, Enzi highlighted the need to modernize the Disability Insurance program in order to fiscally secure its long-term future for the nation. Below is U.S. Senator Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., opening statement as prepared for delivery: The federal government's primary program to a… Continue Reading
02.05.15
Budget chairmen, Portman, call for accounting of spending changes made each Congress
Every year, Congress and the president enact dozens of laws increasing or decreasing spending on various entitlement spending programs. However, there has never been a single document listing the final cost of each new law. To get an honest accounting of these costs, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., House Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price, GA-06, and Senator Rob Portman, R-Ohio, called on the Congressional Budget Office to begin publishing a scorecard at the beginning of eve… Continue Reading
02.03.15
Chairman Enzi: Confront spending, make tough decisions
U.S. Senator Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, spoke this morning on how the president's FY2016 budget proposal lacks needed fiscal reforms and only accelerates the nation's plunge towards higher interest payments and more debt. In his opening statement before the Senate Budget Committee, Enzi also highlighted how we need to be working toward a balanced budget, not rehashing old ideas of taxing more and spending more. It's time for a new direction according to the Cha… Continue Reading
02.02.15
President Obama proposes the same failed policies
Today, the White House released President Obama's budget request for Fiscal Year 2016 - a proposal that never balances and includes a $2.4 trillion spending increase, a $2.1 trillion tax increase and adds $8.5 trillion to the national debt. Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi (R-WY) and House Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price, M.D. (GA-06) issued the following joint statement in response: "Our nation is on a fiscal and economic path that is simply unsustainable. Failed policies and sta… Continue Reading
01.29.15
Member Comments and Staff Analysis Of The Congressional Budget Office’s Budget And Economic Outlook, 2015–2025
"Political differences shouldn't prevent us from taking bold, decisive action to address America's dire financial outlook. Republicans and Democrats agree that being $18 trillion in debt today and facing the prospect of spending more than $800 billion a year on interest payments alone does not lend itself to a prosperous future for our country. CBO's numbers only reinforce this notion. The longer we postpone reforms and put off making tough decisions, the deeper the hole we have to climb out of.… Continue Reading
01.26.15
New Budget chair says budget projections show need for urgent course correction
Washington, D.C. - The Congressional Budget Office is expecting our nation's debt to grow by $9 trillion over the next decade. U.S. Senator Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, said this is a problem we can no longer run from, but one we must confront: "The past will catch up to us no matter how fast we run from it. The Congressional Budget Office's new figures show our failure to root out wasteful spending and live within our means. This has left us with an endless … Continue Reading
12.17.14
Sessions Comments On Committee Plans For 2015
WASHINGTON-U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today regarding committee plans for next year and his friend Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY): "My good friend Mike and I have been close since we both entered the Senate together 18 years ago. We will long remain good and close friends. We have talked and I am deferring to his seniority so that he can lead the Budget Committee as its Chairman beginning in 2015. Mike graciously defer… Continue Reading
12.05.14
Sessions: Restoring Opportunity For American Workers Highest Priority For New GOP Congress
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today as the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the population of Americans not in the labor force increased to more than 92.4 million last month: "While there was some modest improvement in this morning's jobs report headline, millions of Americans felt another month go by out of work and with little hope of finding a job. The report gives the appearance of progress, b… Continue Reading
11.12.14
Sessions Lays Out Financial Agenda For New GOP Majority In Address To Coolidge Foundation Budget Conference
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, delivered the following keynote address today at the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation's national budget conference. Sessions emphasized the need to balance the federal budget within 10 years, impose financial discipline on federal agencies, and improve economic conditions for American workers: "I would like to thank all of our distinguished panelists. In particular, I would like to thank the Calvin … Continue Reading
10.03.14
Sessions: 12 Million More Americans Outside Workforce Today Than In 2009
"Three-fourths of Americans say we remain in a recession-and there are sound reasons for such personal beliefs. Declines in wages and the percentage of people actually working have been hammer blows to working families." WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today as the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that a record high number of Americans are not in the labor force: "The jobs report does not signal that l… Continue Reading
09.30.14
GAO: Obama Admin Has No Legal Authority To Make Risk Corridor Payments Without Congressional Action
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, and U.S. Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, released the following statements today after the Government Accountability Office issued a legal opinion at their request regarding the risk corridor program in Obamacare: "GAO has confirmed beyond dispute that the Department of Health and Human Services has no legal authority to disburse risk corridor payments under Oba… Continue Reading
09.18.14
Sessions Opposes Continuing Resolution
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today regarding the passage of a short-term, stopgap funding bill: "Once again, we were asked to vote for a massive, catch-all bill to fund the entire government without an opportunity to meaningfully review it, and we were blocked by Leader Reid from offering a single amendment. Leader Reid has strong-armed the Senate to shut down debate and rush through legislation at the 1… Continue Reading
09.09.14
Sessions Sounds Alarm Over HHS Policy Allowing Welfare Cash To Be Withdrawn In Marijuana Stores
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today regarding a response he recently received from the Department of Health and Human Services to his oversight letter on welfare payments being withdrawn at marijuana dispensaries: "The federal government current spends roughly $750 billion each year on means-tested welfare programs across 80 different accounts. This money is administered by a vast, sprawling bureaucracy w… Continue Reading
09.05.14
Sessions: Under Obama, 13 Million More Adults But 7 Million Fewer Workers
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today regarding the August jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics: "Today's jobs report came in far below expectations. Twice as many people left the labor force last month as found jobs, and there are now 92.3 million people outside the workforce entirely. The number of workers in the labor force has fallen by more than 7 million since President Obama took office, e… Continue Reading
08.01.14
Sessions: 4 In 10 American Adults Not Working
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today after the release of the July jobs report: "Our economy continues to perform at an unacceptable level: 4 in 10 U.S. adults are either unemployed or not in the workforce at all. Unemployment for Americans without a high school diploma stands at 9.6 percent. Youth unemployment is 20.2 percent. For African-American youth, is it 34.9 percent. Median household income is $2,0… Continue Reading
07.10.14
Sessions Details Case Against OMB Nominee Shaun Donovan
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, delivered the following prepared remarks on the Senate floor today ahead of the vote on HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan to be Director of the Office of Management and Budget: "Mr. President, I rise today to discuss the nomination of Shaun Donovan to be Director of the Office of Management and Budget. I voted against Mr. Donovan in the Budget Committee, and would like to take this opportunity to share with my c… Continue Reading
07.01.14
Sessions Asks Why Medicare Agency Can’t Prevent Fraud, Recover Known Improper Payments
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, sent a letter today to the Administrator of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services regarding the payment of improper claims in the Medicare fee for service program. The text of Sessions' letter follows: "Dear Administrator Tavenner: The Medicare Integrity Program ("MIP") at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services ("CMS") is charged with detecting and preventing improper Medicare payments. On… Continue Reading
06.25.14
Sessions On GDP Revision: ‘A Tragic Collision With Reality’
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today regarding the final GDP estimates for the first quarter of 2014: "Growth last year was 1.9%-less than half of the White House predicted in 2009. And in 2012, the White House predicted growth this year would be 4.0%. But with a first quarter GDP contraction of -2.9% (a dramatic downward revision from initial estimates of positive 0.1% growth), the economy would need to a… Continue Reading
