Op-Eds
“[Mr. Lew] launched a nationwide PR campaign designed to mislead the public about the budget that included false statements in congressional testimony…
No man serving in the White House has done more to scuttle the hopes of a meaningful long-term debt agreement than Jack Lew.”
No man serving in the White House has done more to scuttle the hopes of a meaningful long-term debt agreement than Jack Lew.”
Dec 12 2012
We Can't Fix the Budget in Secret
'The world's greatest deliberative body' now is like the Russian Duma, with secret meetings and preordained votes.
By: Jeff Sessions
“Washington has become possessed by the idea that a small group of negotiators, meeting in secret, can solve the deep, painful and systemic problems plaguing this country… No one denies that good people have been trying hard, but what have all these secret talks produced? Temporary fixes, stopgap measures and another set of emergency deadlines…Members of the Senate must reassert their chamber’s historic role as the national institution where the great challenges of our time are debated, clarified and ultimately resolved in public view… What we need is more distinction, not less. On these great issues of the economy and debt, the voters have sent Washington mixed signals and a divided Congress. It is thus all the more critical that the facts and choices be clarified. The Senate is the perfect institution—created for just such a time as this—to provide that clarity and consensus… Every senator, whose one vote is equal to that of every other, must stand up and call a halt to government by secret committee.”
By: Sen. John Thune, Sen. Jeff Sessions, Rep. Jeb Hensarling, and Rep. Paul Ryan
“The sequestration process was passed last August as part of the Budget Control Act, a last-resort measure to avert a fiscal crisis due in part to the Senate’s failure to pass a budget. Though defense spending makes up less than 20 percent of our budget, 50 percent of the cuts required under the act fall on programs and personnel charged with providing for our nation’s defense…Despite this looming crisis, President Barack Obama and his administration have so far refused to level with the American people about the full impact of these defense cuts… Given the seriousness of the situation, the Senate should immediately join the House in calling on the president to enter the discussion; release a plan detailing the effects of sequestration, and begin a debate with Congress on the need to replace this sequester with deficit reduction through sensible reforms — not arbitrary cuts.”
By: Sen. Jeff Sessions
By refusing to do a budget for three straight years - during a time of financial danger - the Senate’s Democratic majority has proved itself unworthy to lead.By: Sen. Jeff Sessions & Rep. Paul Ryan
“Under [the president’s] plan, the government is projected to borrow $11.2 trillion over the next 10 years. This is roughly the same amount of debt we are expected to incur under realistic projections of current policy. The budget does not change our debt trajectory. Instead, the president has used a series of gimmicks to create the illusion of fiscal responsibility…“We see serious danger in shrugging off the president’s dereliction of duty — a danger compounded by Democratic leaders in the U.S. Senate, who have refused to offer any budget at all for more than 1,000 days. The unsustainable growth of government spending is pushing the nation ever closer to a debt-fueled economic crisis… The good news, of course, is that citizens are noticing, and they will have the final say. The American people demand leaders who take seriously their legal and moral obligations to put forward credible budget plans.”
By: Sen. Jeff Sessions
If the president wants, as he says, to be a "warrior for the middle class," then he must finally draw up the courage to deliver a long-term budget plan that tackles our debt, restores confidence and unburdens the private sector. Otherwise, the government will continue to grow and the middle class will continue to shrink.By: Sen. Jeff Sessions & Rep. Paul Ryan
Senate Democrats abandoned their official duty to prioritize Americans’ hard-earned tax dollars and tackle our nation’s most pressing economic challenges—dealing a painful blow to fiscal progress that may be felt for some time.Oct 21 2011
An End to Budgetary Trickery
When is money it spends considered money saved? When Congress says so.
By: Sen. Olympia J. Snowe and Sen. Jeff Sessions
Washington today relies on budget gimmicks to enable and conceal countless billions in federal deficit spending… That is why we have introduced the Honest Budget Act. It will strip away many of the most blatant and dishonest gimmicks—making it harder to spend money we don’t have, and helping to confront the larger culture of fiscal corruption that is bankrupting the country and eroding public confidence in government.By: Sen. Jeff Sessions and Rep. Paul Ryan
Our nation’s total debt is now larger than our entire economy. Unemployment is painfully high and growth is painfully slow... But Senate Democrats, during this time of national crisis, failed even to present a budget plan — in open defiance of the law and the public they serve.By: Sen. Jeff Sessions
The recently announced debt-limit deal is far from perfect. However, it will reduce spending and does represent a step forward. No such progress would have been possible but for the Americans who rose up in the last election and kicked so many big spenders out of office.But in order to restore fiscal discipline in Washington, balance our budget and free this country from a growing mountain of debt, much more work is needed - work that will require the vigorous participation of the entire Senate and the public we serve.