By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
President Barack H. Obama’s administration sent a budget to the Congress. The U.S. House of Representatives rejected the Obama budget and passed a budget drafted by House Republicans. Both budgets are in the U.S. Senate where the budget process died last year. The U.S. Senate has not passed any budget in years. Senator Jeff Sessions (R) from Alabama is the ranking Republican member of the Senate Budget Committee. Sen. Sessions issued a statement supporting Budget Committee Chairman Conrad (D) North Dakota’s stated intention to bring a budget out of the Senate Budget Committee in defiance of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s stated position.
Sen. Sessions said, “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 Chairman Conrad will join me in calling upon his party’s leadership to ensure that a budget is very soon brought to the floor for consideration, amendment, and debate from the entire Senate and in the full view of the American people.”
“The Senate’s Democrat majority is now in its third consecutive year without passing a budget resolution as required by law. The last time they authored and adopted a plan was April 29th, 2009.” “As such, the Senate’s Democrat majority has proven themselves unworthy to lead at this dangerous hour for our Republic.” “Next week, Chairman Conrad has announced he will bring up a budget in committee. I am glad that the Chairman is moving forward with this mandatory process despite the apparent wishes of his leadership,” Sen. Sessions said.
Sen. Sessions continued, “We are all very interested to see what the Chairman’s plan will contain. I certainly would expect him to do better than President Obama, whose proposal not only made no change to our disastrous debt course, but also hiked taxes to fund a massive $1.6 trillion spending increase, in the process wiping out the spending reductions agreed to in the Budget Control Act just last August.” “In other words, will he spend more or less than the approximately $44 trillion we are now projected to spend over the next ten years? For instance, if the Chairman simply marks to the fiscal commission it would likely not constitute a real net spending cut from current levels—only a tax increase.”
“It will be an important week for the country. And I hope Chairman Conrad will join me in calling upon his party’s leadership to ensure that a budget is very soon brought to the floor for consideration, amendment, and debate from the entire Senate and in the full view of the American people,” Sen. Sessions concluded.
The national debt is $15.7 trillion and the current budget deficit is $1.3 trillion a year. The President’s budget plan shows deficit reduction by 2016 to $621 million a year. The House Republicans’ budget predicts reducing the 2016 deficit to $285 million a year.
To read Senator Sessions statement in its entirety:
