Oversight
Fact Sheet On CBO Long-Term Outlook: Worsening Debt Imperils Economy
CBO now projects that debt held by the public would exceed 100 percent GDP by 2021 under current policies (the alternative fiscal scenario). This is a 10 percentage point increase in debt relative to CBO's projections of only one year ago. What's more, debt held by the public is only a fraction of total federal debt, which is nearly 100 percent of GDP already. Economists Rogoff and Reinhart have found gross debt levels above 90 percent of GDP slow economic growth by around one percentage poin… Continue Reading
08.16.11
Issue 1a&b: Sequesters: Now And Then
08.16.11
Sessions: President Fostering Uncertainty, Unpredictability In Economy
"Our nation's total debt has now officially eclipsed the size of our entire economy… but the president continues his call for more failed government 'investments.' We need certainty and predictability, not more experiments in progressive economics." WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today in response to the July employment report, which showed the unemployment rate nearly unchanged at 9.1 percent: "Un… Continue Reading
08.16.11
Sessions Opposes Debt Limit Bill: 'Answer is More Accountability, Not Less'
"The new normal in Washington has become panic-driven 11th hour votes in which Members are told to fall into line before pandemonium ensues. This is no way to run the Congress or to run the government… No select committee or secret meeting is going to force the Congress to look in the mirror or to look the American people in the eye." WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, made the following statement today after voting in opposition to … Continue Reading
08.16.11
Sessions Reacts To Announcement Of Late-Hour Debt Limit Deal
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued a statement this evening following the announcement that a deal had been reached to raise the debt ceiling: "I am glad that this matter appears to be on its way to resolution prior to August 2nd. However, I have warned from the very beginning that by shunning our legislative process and Senate heritage we would find ourselves in the 11th hour forced to vote on a bill with little or no time for meani… Continue Reading
08.16.11
Sessions Comments On Possibility Of Last-Minute Debt Deal
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today regarding the current status of debt negotiations as the Senate awaits a vote on Majority Leader Reid's debt limit proposal: "One thing every American should know: the level of spending cuts currently being discussed is only a small step. It will not change the debt course we are on. The Republican House has passed several measures, including a historic budget, which wo… Continue Reading
08.16.11
Sessions Remarks On Senate Democrats’ Rejection Of House Debt Limit Extension
"If the White House or the Democrat leadership in the Senate had taken the legally required budget process seriously at any point in the last year-if they had presented a single credible plan to cut spending-we wouldn't be here right now in the 11th hour." WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following comment today after voting against tabling the House-passed Budget Control Act. The motion to table was agreed to: "I am disappoin… Continue Reading
08.16.11
Budget Committee Republicans Warn Reid Against Attempting End-Run Around Budget Law In Debt Bill
"Had the Senate adopted a budget in a timely manner this year, as the House of Representatives did, we would not be at an impasse on the debt limit increase at the 11th hour…[your] provision would provide a further excuse for avoiding a budget and increase the likelihood the Congressional Budget Act will be violated for a third straight year. This is an abrogation of the responsibilities of the Senate Committee on the Budget and the U.S. Senate." WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL)… Continue Reading
08.16.11
Sessions: Reid's Accounting Hoax And Dem Leaders' Budget Law Defiance Has Brought Us To 11th Hour
"If the year had begun with a serious budget proposal from the president, we wouldn't be in this mess right now… Senate Democrats, meanwhile, have refused to pass a budget in 820 days or even present one this year… Democrats defied the law and sound policy all year long and now we are paying the price… There have been suggestions that Republicans are simply unwilling to budge from their position. But the Boehner proposal represents only a small portion of the cuts Republica… Continue Reading
08.16.11
Sessions: Reid Bill Achieves Only One-Third Of Promised Cuts
"As feared, the Majority Leader's bill does not achieve anything close to the promised savings. Given the late hour, rather than rush through poorly-vetted legislation to grant the president the largest debt ceiling increase in history, we should pursue a more reasonable approach: a short-term extension with real cuts during the immediate time period the extension covers… Then, using the extra time, Congress should pursue a binding framework like Cut, Cap, and Balance… We should tr… Continue Reading
08.16.11
Sessions On The President's Call For A 'Balanced' Approach On Debt
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today in response to President Obama's repeated call for a "balanced" approach to dealing with the nation's looming debt crisis: "The president has repeatedly called for a „balanced? approach to reducing our deficit. But there?s nothing „balanced? about an approach that couples weak spending cuts with dramatic tax hikes. There?s nothing balanced about the presiden… Continue Reading
08.16.11
Sessions Responds To Democrat Deficit Myths, Calls For Honesty In Facing Debt Crisis
"We can't have an honest budget if we don't have an honest dialogue. So I'm here today to speak the plain truth, as best I can, and to provide some concrete facts for consideration… Democrats have said-although no plan has ever been made public-that they could get behind a budget deal that reduces the deficit $4 trillion over the next ten years, half of it comprised of spending cuts. I'm skeptical that even this minimal level of spending cuts would occur. But even if it did, it's not eve… Continue Reading
08.16.11
Sessions Comments On Reid’s Debt Plan
"Majority Leader Reid's plan dramatically overstates the spending restraint it achieves, using Washington math that has been the cause of our surging debt… This proposal would mean that total spending over ten years would still be increased, not reduced. I am not impressed." WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today in response to the debt-limit increase proposal that Majority Leader Harry Reid introduce… Continue Reading
08.16.11
Following Cut, Cap, Balance Vote, Sessions Challenges Democrat Leaders To Finally Present Plan Of Their Own
"It is likely the president and the Democrat Senate, who control the levers of power in Washington, will continue to resist the spending cuts we need to restore fiscal balance… It's time for those who oppose Cut, Cap, and Balance to bring forward their alternative. The media, the public, and lawmakers should demand it." WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today after a vote on tabling the motion to proce… Continue Reading
08.16.11
With 'Serious Flaws' In Gang Of Six Summary, Time For President To Lay Cards On Table
"After my staff and I have had additional time to analyze the summary, even more questions and concerns have arisen. Serious flaws have been identified.… The production of the Gang's summary at the last minute also underscores my severe concerns over how this process has unfolded… Senate Democrats and the White House have fiercely resisted formulating an actual debt plan at every step of the way. Instead, the president has pushed for secret meetings-avoiding the public accountabili… Continue Reading
08.16.11
Sessions Raises Questions, Concerns Over Gang Of Six Proposal
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today in response to the release of an executive summary of a not-yet-final deficit reduction proposal from the bipartisan group of senators known as the "Gang of Six": "I congratulate my colleagues who worked on this proposal. They have put in many long hours of effort and have mastered the details. It?s a significant event. However, we still do not have a legislative text t… Continue Reading
08.16.11
Sessions: Two Trillion In Spending Cuts Only A Fraction Of What’s Ultimately Needed
"Up to now, the president has not been a partner in deficit reduction, but an obstacle. He must, for the first time since taking office, present to the American people a plan with specific, immediate, and lasting spending cuts… Whatever the White House ultimately produces we must remember that $2 trillion in spending cuts is only a small fraction of the spending cuts contained in Republican budget plans this year… It is in fact only a four percent reduction in spending over 10 year… Continue Reading
08.16.11
As Republicans Announce Opposition To Appropriations Without A Budget, Sessions Offers Bill To Strengthen Law
"If the party that controls the Senate believes it can appropriate money without any overall plan for spending, borrowing, and taxing, it ought to be able to muster 60 votes to support that view." WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, today offered an amendment to the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act that would strengthen the existing legal requirement that appropriations bills not be considered unless the Senate h… Continue Reading
07.13.11
Sessions: No Appropriations Without A Budget
"One of these [budgetary] enforcement mechanisms is a prohibition against the consideration of appropriations bills in the absence of a budget… I have a duty as the Ranking Member of the Budget Committee… to oppose cloture on this [appropriations bill] and to raise the 303(c) point of order should cloture be invoked… I am also bringing forward legislation that will raise the 303(c) point of order threshold to 60 votes… Until the majority allows this chamber to adopt a… Continue Reading
07.12.11
Sessions: Debt Limit Progress Requires President To Give Up Gimmicks
"Enough empty promises… We need a seismic restoration of responsibility-and it will not happen unless, for the first time since taking office, President Obama puts a credible budget plan on paper." WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today after learning that the White House's publicly claimed spending cuts from closed-door meetings rely heavily on gimmicks and accounting tricks: "News that … Continue Reading
