Oversight
Graduate school debt is driving up the cost of helping borrowers manage their student loans
by Danielle Douglas-Gabriel
Americans are amassing hefty debt in graduate programs and turning to repayment plans that offer loan forgiveness. But the trend is costing taxpayers and could make the popular programs politically untenable. A Congressional Budget Office report released Wednesday projects that loans made to graduate students over the next decade will account for 81 percent of the $207.4 billion the federal government will forgive through what are known as income-driven repayment plans. The plans cap monthly pa… Continue Reading
02.13.20
Bipartisan Bill Would Strengthen Federal Financial Management
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi (R-WY) this week introduced bipartisan legislation to strengthen federal financial management by updating the Chief Financial Officers (CFO) Act of 1990. The CFO Act created a new foundation for federal financial management and established a fiscal management reporting and leadership structure. The legislation, S. 3287, is cosponsored by Senators Mark Warner (D-VA), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Ron Johnson (R-WI), David Perdue (R-GA), and … Continue Reading
02.13.20
Growing Federal Subsidies for Graduate Loan Debt
by Paul Fain
The share of federal student loan debt with relatively generous repayment options -- in income-driven repayment plans -- is growing rapidly, according to a new report from the Congressional Budget Office. And the CBO, a nonpartisan agency, found that borrowers with graduate and professional degrees are benefiting most from the increasingly expensive federal program. About 45 percent of the volume of federal loans was being repaid through income-driven plans in 2017, the report sa… Continue Reading
02.12.20
CBO Shows Explosive Growth in Cost of Income Driven Repayment for Student Loans
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) today released a new report that shows the cost projections for income driven repayment (IDR) plans surging, which will ultimately cost the federal government more than $200 billion over the next decade. The report also found that more than half of the loans are expected to be forgiven, instead of fully repaid. The report was requested by Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi (R-WY) and Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Co… Continue Reading
02.12.20
Student Debt Forgiveness in U.S. to Total $207 Billion in Next Decade, CBO Says
by Josh Mitchell
WASHINGTON-The U.S. government will forgive $207.4 billion in student debt for Americans who take out loans over the next decade, the Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday. The biggest benefits will go to borrowers who attend graduate or professional school. The CBO projects the government will originate $1.05 trillion in new loans from 2020 to 2029. Much of that will end up in income-driven repayment plans, which set monthly payments as a share of a borrower's income and then forgive bala… Continue Reading
02.10.20
Chairman Enzi's Statement On President’s FY 2021 Budget Proposal
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY), Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today on the President's fiscal year 2021 budget proposal: "Presidents' budgets are a reflection of Administration priorities, but in the end, they are just a list of suggestions, as the power of the purse rests with Congress," said Chairman Enzi. "Bipartisan consensus will be necessary to bring our debt and deficits under control. I hope to work with my colleagues on both side… Continue Reading
02.06.20
Enzi: Expired Programs Cost Govt. Hundreds of Billions of Dollars
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi (R-WY) said federal programs with expired authorizations are costing the government hundreds of billions of dollars every year, after a new report was issued by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). CBO analyzed all the programs and activities funded by Congress through the annual appropriations process and found that hundreds have authorizations that expired or will expire this fiscal year. CBO found that the federal government is … Continue Reading
01.29.20
New CBO Budget Outlook Shows Dramatically Higher Long-Term Debt and Deficits
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi (R-WY) today said the Congressional Budget Office's (CBO) Budget and Economic Outlook for fiscal years 2020 through 2030 shows the country on an unsustainable fiscal path, with debt and deficits rising sharply. CBO's extended projections show that the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2019 and legislation enacted last year that repealed the Cadillac tax will add massive amounts of debt over the long-term, which will dampen economic output and … Continue Reading
01.27.20
The Trouble Ahead for Federal Trust Funds
by Michael Rainey
The aggregate balance of the hundreds of federal trust funds and other dedicated funds will start declining in two years, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office. Republican Senators Mike Enzi (WY) and Mike Braun (IN) asked the GAO to review the status of the funds that support Social Security, Medicare, flood insurance, and many other programs, and the results were published this week. It's a large and complex topic, as this passage from the G… Continue Reading
01.24.20
GAO Says Federal Trust Fund Bankruptcy Crisis Extends Far Beyond Social Security and Medicare
by MARK TAPSCOTT
WASHINGTON-A new report contains blunt warning signs of an approaching fiscal crisis in federal trust funds backing Social Security, Medicare, flood insurance, and many other programs, according to Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.). "The GAO's new report is another warning sign that Social Security, Medicare, and other trust fund programs on which many Americans rely are in danger of going broke," Enzi said Jan. 23 in releasing the Government Accounting Office (GAO) analysis… Continue Reading
01.23.20
New GAO Report Shows Trust Funds on Unsustainable Course
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), the non-partisan government watchdog agency, today released a report requested by Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi (R-WY) and Senator Mike Braun (R-IN) warning that some major federal trust fund programs - including Social Security and Medicare - are on an unsustainable course. While total federal trust fund balances increased between fiscal years 2014 and 2018, the projected total balance is expected to begin decreas… Continue Reading
01.14.20
Senate Budget Committee Approves Trade Legislation
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Senate Budget Committee today approved H.R. 5430, The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement Implementation Act. The agreement is designed to boost economic growth by modernizing the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The bill was previously approved by the Senate Finance Committee last week and by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee earlier today. In addition, the bill was also referred to the Senate Committees on Appropriations, Commerce, Science a… Continue Reading
01.13.20
AFP Urges Congress to Work Together on Budget Reform
by Americans for Prosperity (AFP)
Arlington, Va. - Americans for Prosperity (AFP) released a policy analysis today supporting the Enzi-Whitehouse budget legislation, which lays out five key budget process reforms that would make it easier and more imperative for Congress to address our looming spending and debt problems. The analysis, authored by AFP Senior Policy Fellow Alison Acosta Winters, dives into the Bipartisan Congressional Budget Reform Act (BCoBRA) sponsored by Sens. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.).… Continue Reading
12.18.19
Improving CBO is a Key Part of Enzi-Whitehouse Budget Process Reform
by Demian Brady
12.12.19
The broken budget process is a democracy reform issue
by Kevin R. Kosar
It is difficult to overstate how wrecked the federal budget process is. Late last month, President Trump signed a 30-day stopgap funding measure to dodge a government shutdown. This was the second time this autumn that Congress and the president had to resort to such a continuing resolution. Governing through short-term spending bills has become the rule in recent years, and not passing a congressional budget resolution (or spending plan) has become the new normal. The wrecked process has produ… Continue Reading
12.05.19
New Scorekeeping Report Continues Focus on Fiscal Transparency in Congress
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi (R-WY) announced the release of the December 2019 Senate scorekeeping report. That report tracks the budgetary impact of legislation approved by Congress against the deemed budgetary numbers included in the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2019. The Congressional Budget Act of 1974 requires the Chairmen of the House and Senate Budget Committees to provide members of Congress with regular updates on the budgetary effects of congressio… Continue Reading
11.21.19
Enzi-Whitehouse Budget Process Bill Includes Important Reforms
by Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget
The Senate Budget Committee recently marked up and reported bipartisan legislation to reform the budget process. The Bipartisan Congressional Budget Reform Act, introduced by Chairman Enzi (R-WY) and Senator Whitehouse (D-RI), would improve transparency and accountability in the budget process. It would make the budget resolution into a more effective governing tool by making it easier for policymakers to choose fiscal targets and stick with them. That, we hope, would mean putting the debt on a … Continue Reading
11.14.19
Enzi’s Long-Shot Push for Budget Reform
by Zach C. Cohen
It was almost done. After an hour-and-a-half of debate last week on reforming the way Congress budgets billions of dollars every year, Sen. Michael Enzi refused to call a vote on his bill. Most of the members of the panel were present except for those also on the Judiciary Committee, who were at the White House basking in their effort with President Trump to remake the federal judiciary. So Enzi, the retiring chairman of the Budget Committee, reconvened his committee mere minutes later in an o… Continue Reading
11.13.19
Broken Budget Blues? Senators Enzi, Whitehouse May Have A Remedy For That
by Andrew Lautz
You don't need to be a legislative expert to know that the Congressional budget process is broken. Total public debt is $23 trillion and counting, which is the equivalent of more than 103 percent of the nation's gross domestic product (GDP), and the fiscal year (FY) 2019 federal budget deficit alone approached $1 trillion. Lawmakers have time and time again proven unwilling to make politically difficult but fiscally responsible decisions, all the while careening from budget crisis to budget cris… Continue Reading
11.11.19
Bipartisan Reforms Get Budget Committee OK
by MARK TAPSCOTT
WASHINGTON-A package of fundamental reforms in how Congress does federal budgeting received overwhelmingly bipartisan support at the committee level and is now heading to the Senate floor, where it could face big hurdles. The principal sponsors of the Bipartisan Congressional Budget Reform Act of 2019 are Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) and committee member Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.). The budget panel approved the legislation Nov. 6 on a 15-6 vote, with support by… Continue Reading
