Oversight
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
04.24.14
The Economy Since 2009
The recession officially ended in June 2009, but by nearly every measure, the period since has seen the slowest economic recovery since the end of World War II. Job creation is historically low for this point in a recovery, investment is poor despite record low interest rates, and labor supply is sluggish. Every day that passes in this "snail economy" sees working Americans slip further away from the income gains that could have been theirs in a normal recovery. At the aggregate level, the econ… Continue Reading
04.17.14
CBO Analysis: The President’s FY 2015 Budget
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that the President's budget would increase the 2015 deficit to $509 billion, up 3.5 percent from the $492 billion deficit CBO estimates for 2014. Over 10 years, CBO projects that the President's policies would result in deficits of $6.6 trillion and total federal debt of $26.1 trillion. The President's budget would increase deficits by $117 billion over the first five years covered by the plan, and reduce deficits by just $261 billion over the ful… 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
03.28.14
Economic Growth In 2013 Just Half Of What The President Said His Policies Would Deliver
In 2009, President Obama predicted his policies would produce 4.2 percent growth in 2013-more than double the actual, anemic growth rate of 1.9 percent. Since making that projection, President Obama has had much of his economic agenda implemented: the $870 billion stimulus bill, Dodd-Frank financial regulations, Obamacare, restrictions on American energy, $1.7 trillion in higher taxes, unfettered regulation, etc. Our debt has soared from $10.6 trillion to $17.5 trillion on the promise that this … Continue Reading
03.28.14
CBO: Interests Costs To Dwarf Virtually Every Federal Expense
The U.S. gross federal debt currently stands at $17.548 trillion, and net interest payments to our creditors are the fastest-growing item in the budget. In 2014, the Congressional Budget Office projects that the nation will spend $233 billion on interest payments. By the end of the budget window in 2024, however, CBO forecasts that interest payments will nearly quadruple to an astonishing $880 billion. Every dollar spent paying our creditors is a dollar wasted-money for which we get nothing in r… Continue Reading
03.12.14
SBC Summary And Analysis Of President Obama's FY 2015 Budget
Spending in 2015 would total $3.901 trillion under the President's spending policies, an increase of nearly 8 percent ($279 billion) above today's levels. This is $114 billion more than the OMB baseline, which assumes compliance with the Budget Control Act (BCA) as revised by the Ryan-Murray spending agreement. The President's budget recommends $1.759 trillion in higher revenues over the next 10 years. The budget also assumes $1.386 trillion in higher revenues from generous economic assumptions… 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
03.04.14
The President's FY 2015 Budget: Growing The Government And Shrinking The Middle Class
Spending Surges We're not in an "era of austerity." Since 2009, we've added $6.8 trillion to the debt and spent $17.6 trillion. The President's budget increases spending by $791 billion over 10 years and by $56 billion in 2015 above the Murray-Ryan spending agreement that he signed into law just two months ago. His budget will increase total spending by 63 percent from today's levels over the next 10 years. Debt Explodes President Obama's budget never balances-ever. It would add $8.… 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
02.27.14
State-By-State Analysis Of Minimum Wage Increase
Republican staff of the Senate Budget Committee worked with staff of the Employment Policies Institute to prepare an information sheet for each state on how the proposed increase in the minimum wage would affect employment and who would be affected. The Minimum Wage Fairness Act (S. 1737) calls for an increase in the Federal minimum wage from its current level of $7.25 to $10.10 over a two-year period. While the intention of improving the incomes of minimum wage workers is laudable, most econom… 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
