Oversight
Sessions Issues Statement On Conrad’s Planned Mark-Up, Reid’s Decision To Block Budget From Floor
"I am glad that the Chairman is moving forward with this mandatory process despite the apparent wishes of his leadership. But the great question before us now is whether Majority Leader Reid will reverse his unconscionable stance that no budget-even his Chairman's-should receive consideration on the Senate floor. If that stance does not change, then the whole purpose of the mark-up is undermined and the American people will have been denied the open, public process they deserve… I hope Ch… Continue Reading
04.03.12
Sessions Responds To President’s Budget Speech, $17 Trillion In New Health Law Obligations
"President Obama might have more credibility on these matters were his plan not rejected 0-414 in the House and, the year before, 0-97 in the Senate. President Obama would also enjoy more fiscal credibility if he spent less time assailing the House and more time encouraging the Senate's Democrat Majority to comply with the law requiring them to write a budget and pass it on the floor-something they've refused to do for three straight years… The American people-Democrat and Republican-are… Continue Reading
03.29.12
Sessions: Health Law’s Unfunded Obligations More Than Double That Of Social Security
"Part of my responsibility as the Ranking Member is to look at the long-term costs of legislation… I was floored by what we discovered. At a time when we should be trying to shore up Medicare and Social Security, this health law adds an entirely new obligation-one we cannot pay for-and puts the entire financing of the United States government in jeopardy. We don't have the money. We don't have another $17 trillion in unfunded liabilities that we can add to our account." WASHINGTON-U.S. S… Continue Reading
03.29.12
President’s Health ‘Reform’ Grows Unfunded Obligations By $17 Trillion
Before President Obama's health care law was enacted, unfunded obligations for federal health programs totaled $65 trillion over a 75-year period. The most recent Senate Budget Committee staff estimates show that after the law's passage, that figure has grown by $17 trillion, to $82 trillion. Why we should be concerned that the law is adding to our unfunded obligations: We are challenged by both a short- and long-run debt problem. Unfunded obligations are an approximation of total federal spe… Continue Reading
03.29.12
Sessions Contrasts House, Senate Budget Action; Says Reid ‘Determined To Avoid’ Votes On Health Law
"As President Obama once said, a budget serves as 'an economic blueprint for this nation's future.' Where is the blueprint from the party given the high honor of leading this Chamber?" WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today as the House of Representatives prepared to hold a vote on its budget plan, while the Democrat-led Senate continues to both insist that a budget is not needed and to ignore the April 1st… Continue Reading
03.23.12
Sessions Issues Statement On 2nd Anniversary Of President’s Health Law
"This bill is unpopular, unaffordable, and unconstitutional. It must be repealed." WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today to mark the second anniversary of the signing of President Obama's health spending law: "Two years ago, the president signed his 2,000-page health bill into law after it was forced through Congress over the outcry of the American people. The law represents an unprecedented expansion of … Continue Reading
03.23.12
SBC Analysis: The Fiscal Impact Of The President’s Health Spending Law
Health Law Spends $2.6 Trillion-Not $900 Billion-Over Honest Ten-Year Window President Obama promised the American people, before a joint session of Congress in 2009, that we would spend approximately $900 billion for the first ten years of his health law: "Now, add it all up, and the plan that I'm proposing will cost around $900 billion over 10 years." As is well known, Democrats in Washington used an egregious accounting gimmick to produce a CBO score of $938 billion for FY2010-2019-but this… Continue Reading
03.21.12
Sessions: A Senate Republican Majority Would Pass A Budget
"[The House] presented an honest plan to control wasteful Washington spending, restore Medicare to safety, and grow the middle class-not the government… The Senate's Democrat majority [is going] three straight years without offering a budget… In so doing, Senate Democrats forfeited their claim on leadership. Should voters give Republicans the privilege of a majority in the Senate next year, we will work with our colleagues in the House to finally pass a congressional budget plan. I… Continue Reading
03.20.12
Sessions’ Remarks At House Press Conference Unveiling Their FY13 Budget Plan
"House Republicans… have courageously, intelligently, and responsibly laid out a new plan for America's future… [Senate Democrats] have refused to offer a budget for now three straight years now… The Senate's Democratic majority has forfeited their claim to leadership for America. If the voters give Republicans in the Senate the honor of having the majority next year, we will work with the House to pass a congressional budget… It will change the debt course of America… Continue Reading
03.16.12
CBO Analysis Reveals President’s Budget Leaves Dangerous Debt Path Unchanged
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) today released its annual analysis of the president's budget proposal. CBO's analysis demonstrates that the president's budget achieves virtually no real net deficit reduction and leaves unchanged our dangerously unsustainable debt path. Although the president's plan contains a $1.8 trillion tax hike, the vast share of that sum is used to pay for a sharp increase in new government above current growth levels. CBO also projects, in 2013, a record fifth straig… Continue Reading
03.16.12
Sessions Calls Out Schumer, Dem Leaders For Brazen Political Ploys
"Washington Democrats must think themselves very clever… they have shamelessly shifted the conversation from… very real dangers to the phantom controversies that exist only in their imagination. They are desperate to distract from a record that they cannot defend." WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today regarding the attempts of Democrat leaders in Washington to deflect attention their record … Continue Reading
03.14.12
Sessions Comments On CBO Revelation Of Growing Price Tag For President’s Health Law
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued a statement today following yesterday's updated baseline from the Congressional Budget Office, which revealed that projections of the gross costs associated with President Obama's health law had increased, as did the number of people who would be dropped from their employer-sponsored coverage: "President Obama told the American people his health law would cost around $900 billion over 10 years, but … Continue Reading
03.14.12
As Deadline Nears, Budget Republicans Urge Prompt Scheduling Of Mark-up
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, was joined by every Committee Republican today in releasing a letter to Chairman Kent Conrad. Text of the letter follows: Dear Chairman Conrad: We appreciate your stated commitment to mark up a fiscal year 2013 budget resolution in the Budget Committee. We hope this will not be the third consecutive year that the Senate's Democrat majority fails to offer a budget plan for examination by the American peop… Continue Reading
03.12.12
Ahead Of Budget Mark-Up, Sessions And Johnson Call For Hearing With Sebelius Over New Health Law Revelations
"The Senate Committee on the Budget is required to report a budget resolution for fiscal year 2013 by April 1, 2012… it is critical that we have a comprehensive understanding of how the president's health care law will impact this nation's unsustainable debt course… Secretary Sebelius was [recently] unable to explain either the cause of the increase [in the cost of premium subsidies] or how the new estimate, along with the termination of the fiscally discredited CLASS Act, would a… Continue Reading
03.06.12
Sessions Responds To President’s News Conference: POTUS ‘Oddly Disconnected’ From Suffering Economy, Finances
"Stunningly, in his first press conference of the year, President Obama did not have a word to say about America's extraordinary debt threat, which puts our economy, our security, and our nation at risk… He talks about our economic health, but somehow ignores the fact that he submitted a budget plan only days ago that would grow the nation's total debt another 75 percent, increase spending and taxes, and lead us to certain financial disaster." WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), … Continue Reading
03.01.12
Sessions, Ryan: President Defying Law Requiring Action On Medicare
"The president is required by law to respond to the Medicare Trustees' annual warning, and-as a matter of fundamental leadership-is duty-bound to do so. Meanwhile, the Democratic leaders in the Senate refuse to bring a budget plan to the floor for the third straight year. The livelihoods, savings, and futures of millions of hardworking Americans are at stake, but the president and his party's leaders can't even be bothered to fulfill their most basic obligations in a time of crisis." WASHINGTON… Continue Reading
02.28.12
GAO Finds More Than $400 Billion Spent Each Year On 1,500 Duplicative, Fragmented, Inefficient Programs
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued its annual report on government duplication today. This is the second year of a three-year process, during which the GAO will comprehensively review the federal government to identify duplication, fragmentation, and waste. Since the review's inception, GAO has found 66 areas of duplication encompassing over 1,500 individual programs. This year, GAO identified 32 new areas of duplication and 19 additional areas of waste and inefficiency. The repo… Continue Reading
02.28.12
‘Shocking Report’: Sessions Reacts To Identification Of Trillions In Long-Term Waste, Inefficiency
"The Democrats running Washington want higher taxes that will shrink the private sector in order to expand the wasteful public sector." WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today about a new report from the Government Accountability Office detailing over one thousand examples of waste and inefficiency in the federal government. Among other findings, the GAO report points out that only a small fraction of waste i… Continue Reading
02.28.12
Sessions Delivers Remarks At Hearing With Secretary Of Defense, Confronts Common Myths On Defense Spending
"I fear… that these budget hearings may not be a good use of your time. The Senate Democrat leadership is refusing, for the third straight year, to bring a budget plan to floor. Has the Senate Democrat majority forgotten the warning of Admiral Mike Mullen, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, who told us the debt is the greatest threat to our national security? … But the president has submitted a budget plan that will continue the unsustainable course and increase our gross federal… Continue Reading
02.17.12
Sessions Insists That Obama Budget Chief Answer Straightforward Question
"I will ask again as I did at the hearing… does the president propose to increase or decrease spending levels from those agreed to under the Budget Control Act in August? … I was shocked when you-the president's budget chief-strenuously resisted answering this fundamental question. Eventually, you responded that the president's budget did, in fact, contain net spending cuts. This response is not only factually incorrect but represents, in my view, a continuing and deliberate obfusc… Continue Reading
