Oversight
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
07.08.11
Sessions, Ryan Issue Joint Statement On Jobs Report, Call For Senate Action On Budget
"Reports recently issued by the House Budget Committee and the minority staff of the Senate Budget Committee demonstrate that the federal government's dramatic overspending and enormous debt burden are directly hurting job creation. Employers large and small know that today's excessive borrowing will be tomorrow's tax hikes and interest-rate increases. This lack of confidence in the future puts a chilling effect on hiring and investment right now… While the House has passed a serious, cr… Continue Reading
07.07.11
Sessions, GOP Senators Warn Reid Against Blocking Budget, Debt Work In Senate
"To date, Republicans have offered a number of proposals to reduce and control spending, including a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution… However, as we understand it, [Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad's] latest budget-announced last week-has, like those prior to it, only been unveiled to his Democratic colleagues with no scheduled action on it. We ask that you, as Majority Leader, call for the latest Democratic budget to immediately be made public, in all of its detail, an… Continue Reading
07.06.11
“Phantom Budget”: Sessions Remarks On Unseen Democrat Resolution
"The Budget Committee Chairman says he now, once again, has a budget that he is sharing secretly with his Democrat colleagues. Yet we hear no indication that a full text of the resolution will be made public or, crucially, that it will be slated for a public mark-up in the Committee as required by law… Making matters worse, we have reason to believe from statements and news leaks that the budget will have even more taxes and even fewer cuts than advertised. Tax increases may well exceed $… Continue Reading
07.05.11
Sessions Announces Opposition To Libya Resolution, Urging Dems To “At Once” Begin Budget Work
"No real work is scheduled in the Senate this week on the budget, nor is any on the debt ceiling. Instead, we are moving today to a Libya resolution. This resolution, not requested by the president, is not why we asked to cancel recess… For this reason, I will oppose cloture today and urge the Democrat majority to use this cancelled recess to begin at once the serious budget work, including discussion of a balanced budget amendment, that the American people expect. We have a statutory an… Continue Reading
07.01.11
Sessions And Ryan: Obama Administration Ignores Looming Medicare Bankruptcy
Speeches And Op-Eds From White House Won't Save Medicare WASHINGTON-The Obama administration continues to overlook its legal obligation to address Medicare's growing fiscal imbalance. Instead of offering constructive solutions to avert a looming crisis, the president's Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, published a new opinion piece containing numerous falsehoods about the Republicans' plan to save Medicare, while simultaneously defending the president's decision to do … Continue Reading
07.01.11
Sessions Renews Call: Senate Shouldn’t Recess, Should Stay To Work On Debt Ceiling, Budget
"On the floor, we spend week after week on bills that have little or nothing to do with our economic danger. We name post offices and courthouses but ignore the gathering fiscal storm. And now the Senate is scheduled to take next week off… Before the Memorial Day recess I presented to the Majority Leader a letter, signed by 46 Republican Senators, stating that we should not recess but remain in session to work on a budget plan… I renew the request from our letter… Until we w… Continue Reading
07.01.11
Top Budget And Finance Republicans Tell President To Present Debt Plan Details For Committee Review
"We respectfully request that you provide us, in detail, the most recent version of the proposals that were discussed, including a list of any tax increases for which the White House reportedly advocated… The Congressional Budget Office needs time to review and analyze the proposals that were discussed, and the Budget and Finance Committees need to be able to hold hearings to weigh the plans' budgetary and fiscal impact. Most importantly, the American public needs time to review proposals… Continue Reading
07.01.11
As Senate Schedule Raises Alarm, Sessions Announces Proposal Requiring Sufficient Time To Review Any Debt Limit Bill
"For weeks, Republicans have insisted that the Senate should not recess without working to control our enormous surging debt and unsustainable spending… But now it looks like we may be in session only for show-it seems no work is slated on cutting spending, developing a budget, or addressing the debt ceiling… Given where we are headed, I will introduce legislation next week that establishes a new rule requiring that a debt limit increase be made public 7 days before a vote occurs."… Continue Reading
06.24.11
How Debt Destroys Jobs–And Why We Need A Budget
Higher debt leads to slower economic growth. Empirical studies show that high levels of government debt inhibit economic growth by creating uncertainty, displacing needed private investment, and placing upward pressure on interest rates. For example, Reinhart and Rogoff found that, in advanced economies with gross government debt above 90 percent of GDP, median economic growth tends to be between one and two percent lower (depending on the time period analyzed) when compared to countries with lo… Continue Reading
