Ranking Member Press
Sessions Delivers Opening Remarks At Hearing With Fed Chair Janet Yellen
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, delivered the following prepared remarks today at a hearing discussing the state of the economy with Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen: "Thank you, Chairman Yellen, for appearing before our committee today. I look forward to our discussion. Like the foundation of a home, America's economy must be built on something real, something solid, and something firmly planted. Neither federal stimulus in the form … Continue Reading
05.06.14
Sessions: Murray Filed Budget Numbers To Spend $19 Billion More This Year
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today regarding the deemed budget allocations that Chairman Patty Murray was required to file in the Congressional Record as a condition of the Ryan-Murray spending deal: "I'm disappointed that Senate Democrats have chosen to make yet another end-run around the Murray-Ryan spending limits in an effort to spend $19 billion more this year than we agreed to. While House Budget C… Continue Reading
05.06.14
Sessions Delivers Opening Statement At Hearing On President’s Education Budget
"Congress and the President agreed to certain spending limits, but now you are simply proposing to spend well above that… This is not acceptable. If you and the Administration want to spend more money on education, you must make it a priority, reducing spending somewhere else… More federal money is not a substitute for the support of a family or community, for the value of a role model or mentor, or the quality of a great teacher. More money cannot make a student do his homework o… Continue Reading
05.02.14
Ranking Member Sessions Statement On April Jobs Report
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today regarding the April jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics: "For every one job added, almost three people left the workforce. In fact, all of the decrease in the unemployment rate is attributed to the 988,000 more people who are not in the labor force at all. So while it is welcome news anytime jobs are added, these larger workforce departures point to a more f… Continue Reading
05.01.14
Sessions Investigates Disability Benefits Being Awarded On Basis Of Inability To Speak English
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, sent a letter today to the acting commissioner of the Social Security Administration regarding high rates of approval for Social Security Disability claims, including the fact that the inability to communicate in English is being treated as a determinative factor in getting approved for these taxpayer-funded benefits. The text of Sessions' letter follows: "Dear Acting Commissioner Colvin: I write to expr… Continue Reading
04.11.14
Ranking Member Sessions On Nomination of President’s Budget Director To Head HHS, Implement Health Law
"Director Burwell's nomination must and will be considered fairly, and with an open mind... [She] has a comparatively thin resume for the demands now placed on this position-she has never run anything on the scale of HHS-and, during her short stint as budget director, she did more to obscure the nation's poor financial state than to illuminate it." WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today about the nomination … Continue Reading
04.10.14
Sessions Questions National Endowment For The Humanities Over Dubious Expenditures
"News reports indicate that NEH has contributed close to $1 million to the [Popular Romance Project]… The program 'will explore the fascinating, often contradictory origins and influences of popular romance as told in novels, films, comics, advice books, song, and internet fan fiction…' Now is not the time for us to come up with creative ways to spend money. Now is the time for us to come up with creative ways to save money. NEH is obligated to do its part. Eliminating some of thes… Continue Reading
04.08.14
Sessions: Americans Are Right To Believe Washington Has Stacked The Deck Against Them
"Washington and Wall Street are booming. The greatest growth area in the United States is Washington, DC… Lobbyists, consultants, and politicians are doing quite well. But median household incomes have declined by $2,268 since 2009… Tax, spend, borrow, and regulate is not only dangerous, but it won't create jobs and higher wages. We must act to create more jobs and rising incomes-without adding to the debt. Here's how…" WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Mem… Continue Reading
04.03.14
Sessions Writes To Small Business Administration About Cost Of Loan Program
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, released a letter today sent to U.S. Small Business Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet concerning the cost of SBA's 7(a) loan program. The text of Sessions' letter follows: "Dear Administrator Contreras-Sweet: Encouraging lending to small businesses is one of the primary purposes of the Small Business Administration (SBA). SBA's main program to achieve that goal is the flagship 7(a) loan guarantee… Continue Reading
04.01.14
Sessions Delivers Opening Statement At Hearing On Economic Challenges Facing Working Americans
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, delivered the following prepared remarks today at a Budget Committee hearing on opportunity, mobility, and inequality in today's economy: "Thank you, Chairman Murray, for holding this important discussion today. A sober review of the data reveals that the economic situation for too many Americans remains unacceptable. Household incomes have declined each of the last five years. The number of households at… Continue Reading
03.12.14
Sessions Delivers Opening Remarks At Hearing Examining President’s Budget With Secretary Lew
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, delivered the following prepared remarks today at a Budget Committee hearing on the President's FY 2015 budget proposal with testimony from Treasury Secretary Jack Lew: "Thank you, Secretary Lew, for appearing before us today. In 2009, the Administration wagered America's financial future on the idea that a record increase in government spending and debt would revive the economy. Since then, government … Continue Reading
03.10.14
Sessions: Sebelius Has Never Testified Before Budget Committee Despite Health Spending Comprising Nearly 1/3 Of Fed. Budget
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, released a letter today sent to Chairman Patty Murray asking that Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius be invited to appear before the Committee. The text of Sessions' letter follows: "Dear Chairman Murray: At the end of our hearing with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Sylvia Burwell, on the President's FY2015 budget submission, I asked about inviting Secretary of He… Continue Reading
03.07.14
Sessions: Households Have Lost $278B In Income Over The Last Five Years
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today after a new Bureau of Labor Statistics report revealed that February marked the 74th straight month that employment levels have been below what they were at the start of the recession: "Since 2007, the population has grown by 15 million. Yet there are 1 million fewer Americans who are working. The result is a shrinking workforce and expanding welfare rolls. Even over th… Continue Reading
03.05.14
Sessions Delivers Opening Remarks At Hearing With President's Budget Director
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, delivered the following remarks today at the Budget Committee hearing on the President's FY 2015 budget proposal with testimony from OMB Director Sylvia Burwell: "Director Burwell, thank you for joining us here today. Two weeks ago, where you are sitting today, we heard chilling testimony from Director Elmendorf of the Congressional Budget Office that declared that the United States was on an "unsustainab… Continue Reading
03.04.14
Sessions: President’s Budget ‘An Open Declaration That Reality Doesn’t Matter’
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today regarding President Obama's fiscal year 2015 budget submission: "Just days ago the Director of the Congressional Budget Office sounded the alarm over our nation's 'unsustainable' debt path and 'the risk of a fiscal crisis.' But President Obama has ignored the warning and submitted a budget plan that bursts through the Ryan-Murray spending caps he agreed to when he signe… Continue Reading
02.28.14
Sessions Reacts To Senate Dem Decision To Skip Budget Once Again
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today regarding the Friday afternoon announcement that the Senate's Democrat majority would, for yet another year, violate its legal obligation to produce a budget plan: "With this decision every single Senate Democrat has fled the fiscal battlefield at a time when their constituents face an exceptional danger. The debt is on track to hit $27 trillion by 2024. Annual interest… Continue Reading
02.25.14
Sessions Urges ‘National Effort To Reduce The Welfare Rolls And Grow The Employment Rolls’
"The centerpiece of the strategy should be a consuming national effort to reduce the welfare rolls and grow the employment rolls… Imagine how much could we could do if we redirected [our $750 billion yearly welfare budget] to focus on job training, job placing, and work preparation. Wouldn't that be a better, more productive, and more compassionate plan? One that would work?" WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, delivered the following… Continue Reading
02.12.14
Ranking Member Sessions Opposes Debt Limit Increase
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today regarding the debt limit increase: "This measure would increase America's debt limit approximately $1 trillion while failing to reduce spending by a single penny. And the legislation takes no steps whatsoever to eliminate gimmicks that allow spending above our budget limits. The tax, spend, and borrow agenda in Washington has not worked: wages are down, the workforce is… Continue Reading
02.11.14
Sessions Delivers Statement At Hearing To Examine CBO’s Obamacare Report And Budget Outlook
"The President said his stimulus bill, the Affordable Care Act, increased taxes and regulations, and more government spending would result in a strong [economic recovery]… Sadly, CBO's report recognizes that the President's 2010 health care law is a hammer blow to lower-income workers… It is our duty to take principled, achievable steps that will benefit the most Americans, not just the fortunate few, and do so without increasing our debt, which is already well in the danger zone.… Continue Reading
02.07.14
Sessions: Time To Begin National Conversation About Moving People Off Welfare And Into The Workforce
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today regarding the state of U.S. labor markets: "Today's jobs report provides further evidence of the damage done to labor markets by the slow economic recovery. One of the most troubling factors is the sheer number of people who are completely outside the labor force. Indeed, testimony presented this week in the Budget Committee revealed that the number of people actively l… Continue Reading
