Oversight
Sessions Comments On OMB Mid-Session Budget Review
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today after the administration provided the annual budget update known as the Mid-Session Review: "Today's updated budget report from the White House confirms that the president's budget plan leaves us on an unsustainable fiscal path: despite a $1.1 trillion tax hike, the president's budget grows the total federal debt by $8.7 trillion over the next ten years. Spending increa… Continue Reading
06.24.13
Sessions Writes Colleagues Ahead Of Tonight’s Vote On How 1,200-Page Substitute Will Reduce Wages
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, released the following letter sent today to his Senate colleagues in both parties discussing how the doubling of guest workers and large increase in low-skill future immigration will adversely impact wages, particularly for lower-income Americans: "Dear Colleague, Wages for working Americans have been falling since 1999. 21 million of our citizens who want work are unable to find full-time employment. Nea… Continue Reading
06.21.13
SBC Analysis Of CBO Immigration Report: Senate Bill Increases On-Budget Deficit, Increases Unemployment, Depresses Wages
This week, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released two documents analyzing the budgetary and economic effects of the immigration legislation currently before the Senate (S. 744). The fiscal cost estimate demonstrates conclusively that the legislation as reported from the Judiciary Committee will increase the costs of welfare benefits provided to newly legalized residents by more than the income taxes and fees that they will pay, resulting in added deficit spending over the next 10 years. … Continue Reading
06.19.13
Sessions: CBO Immigration Report Shows On-Budget Deficits Going Up, Not Down
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today correcting an erroneous characterization of the Congressional Budget Office score of S.744, the Gang of Eight immigration bill: "The CBO report unequivocally finds that even over the first 10 years of the bill (a period when many welfare benefits are denied to RPIs), the 'on-budget' deficit will increase by $14.2 billion. The report then shows that the deficits in the … Continue Reading
06.18.13
Ranking Member Sessions Comments On CBO Score Of Immigration Bill
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today regarding the Congressional Budget Office's new estimate of the deficit impact of S. 744, the Gang of Eight immigration bill: "The bill's drafters relied on the same scoring gimmicks used by the Obamacare drafters to conceal its true cost from taxpayers and to manipulate the CBO score. There is a reason why eligibility for the most expensive federal benefits was delayed… Continue Reading
06.11.13
Issue 2: Sequestration And Appropriations
06.10.13
Sessions Calls For Welfare Reform Ahead Of Senate Vote On Food Stamp Legislation
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today regarding the Senate farm bill, of which 80 percent goes to the food stamp program: "A shocking 80 percent of the farm bill's spending now goes to food stamps. This has been the fastest growing major federal program in recent years. It has expanded fourfold since just 2001, and even as the economy slowly improves, enrollment is projected to remain permanently elevated a… Continue Reading
06.05.13
Ranking Member Sessions Welcomes New Staff Director
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today welcoming the Committee's new minority staff director: "We are all sad to see Marcus Peacock leave the Budget Committee and wish him the best of luck in his next adventure. Marcus joined up with us from my first day as Ranking Member, and he has been a source of wise counsel and leadership ever since. His keen judgment proved indispensable during the many high-stakes bu… Continue Reading
06.03.13
S. 744 And The Welfare State
It is a long-held principle of immigration that those seeking admittance to a new country must be able to financially support themselves and their families. This is not only sound fiscal policy, but sound social policy that promotes the civic virtue of economic empowerment. In the United States, this principle was codified in Section 212 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which states that "an alien who… is likely at any time to become a public charge is inadmissible." Oversight fro… Continue Reading
05.22.13
Sessions Delivers Opening Remarks At Committee Hearing On Economic Growth
"In my view, the key to stronger economic growth starts with removing burdens we impose on work, savings, and investment." WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, delivered an opening statement today at a Committee hearing on supporting broad-based economic growth and fiscal responsibility through tax reform. His remarks, as prepared, follow: "Chairman Murray, thank you for holding this hearing today. We all agree that public policies need to s… Continue Reading
05.17.13
CBO Confirms Obama 2014 Budget Does Not Change Dangerous Debt Course
The Congressional Budget Office's Analysis of the President's 2014 Budget shows that the policies proposed by President Obama would increase taxes by $972 billion and spending by $954 billion, yielding deficits and debt that are little changed from the levels expected under current law. As a result, the President's budget never reaches balance. Over the next 10 years, CBO estimates deficits in President's budget total $5.195 trillion, an average of $520 billion per year, significantly above the … Continue Reading
05.17.13
Sessions Comments On CBO’s Analysis Of President’s FY14 Budget
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today regarding the Congressional Budget Office's re-estimate of President Obama's FY 2014 budget submission: "The new analysis from the Congressional Budget Office confirms, once again, that President Obama's financial vision of the country is dangerously unsustainable. According to CBO his plan would add $7.6 trillion to the debt, despite increasing taxes by $972 billion. I… Continue Reading
05.14.13
Sessions Comments On CBO’s Updated Budget Projections
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today regarding the May baseline update from the Congressional Budget Office: "CBO's baseline update, while providing some favorable change in deficit estimates, shows that the nation still faces a serious long-term problem. After temporary improvement, deficits begin a relentless rise after 2015. Revenues increase by 46 percent over the following 8 years, but spending surges… Continue Reading
05.14.13
CBO’s Revised Outlook Still Projects Unsustainable Debt Path
The Congressional Budget Office's updated budget outlook projects that, under the baseline rules the agency is required by law to follow, spending will total $46.677 trillion over the next 10 years, revenues will total $40.336 trillion, and the debt will climb to $25.228 trillion by the end of 2023. These figures assume the continuation of the spending cuts required by the Budget Control Act of 2011 (BCA) and the tax increases that took effect on January 1. Deficits And Debt Deficits over the … Continue Reading
05.06.13
Sessions Comments On New Heritage Foundation Analysis Of Gang Of Eight Plan
"At a time when our nation's major entitlements are already nearing bankruptcy, we cannot afford to add another $6.3 trillion in long-term net costs to already over-burdened state, local, and federal governments… This bill may be good for the special interests who helped write it. But it's bad for workers, bad for taxpayers, and fails to serve the national interest." WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement … Continue Reading
05.01.13
America Spent Enough On Federal Welfare Last Year To Send $60,000 To Each Household In Poverty
A congressional report from CRS recently revealed that the United States now spends more on means-tested welfare than any other item in the federal budget-including Social Security, Medicare, or national defense. Including state contributions to the roughly 80 federal poverty programs, the total amount spent in 2011 was approximately $1 trillion. Federal spending alone on these programs was up 32 percent since 2008. The U.S. Census Bureau estimated that almost 110 million Americans received som… Continue Reading
04.30.13
Ranking Member Sessions: Gang Of Eight Loopholes Mean Swift Access To Public Aid For Illegal Immigrants
"I hope the Gang's members will propose or support amendments to address the legislation's enormous federal costs and to ensure that illegal immigrants will not become dependent on already-burdened state and local benefit programs." WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today regarding a number of identified loopholes in the Gang of Eight bill that will allow illegal immigrants to access public benefits far soon… Continue Reading
04.18.13
How The Gang Of Eight Proposal Would Impact U.S. Taxpayers
On April 10th, Senators Sessions and Grassley, Ranking Members of the Budget and Judiciary Committees, along with former Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Pat Roberts, wrote an as-yet unanswered letter to the Gang of Eight concerning "the long-term costs that will be imposed on taxpayers once millions of illegal immigrants eventually become eligible not only for our nation's major entitlements but approximately 80 different means-tested welfare and low-income assistance programs." The letter… Continue Reading
04.17.13
Ranking Member Sessions Asks CBO To Provide Estimate Of Long-Term Cost Of Immigration Bill
"The legislation would enable millions of illegal immigrants to access federal and state welfare and entitlement programs, with the most significant costs occurring outside the 10-year budget window when they would be eligible for green cards and ultimately citizenship. No lawmaker should vote on this legislation until we have a complete and thorough estimation of the long-term cost." WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, sent a letter today … Continue Reading
04.10.13
President Obama’s Budget Achieves Virtually No Deficit Reduction
The President's 2014 budget never reaches balance, but asks taxpayers to send more money to Washington to grow the government. Relative to current law, the President would raise taxes by $1.083 trillion to increase spending by $1.025 trillion (including the President's 2013 proposals). The actual deficit reduction in this budget is only $59 billion, barely making a dent in the gross federal debt, which is expected to grow by $8.2 trillion, from $17.2 trillion at the end of this year to $25.4 tri… Continue Reading
