By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions (R) from Alabama declared on Tuesday, February 4, 2014 that the $4 trillion Obama 2015 budgets is, “An Open Declaration That Reality Doesn’t Matter.”
U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions issued a written statement on Tuesday following the release of President Barack Obama’s fiscal year 2015 budget submission to Congress. Sen. Sessions said, “Just days ago the Director of the Congressional Budget Office sounded the alarm over our nation’s ‘unsustainable’ debt path and ‘the risk of a fiscal crisis.’ But President Obama has ignored the warning and submitted a budget plan that bursts through the Ryan-Murray spending caps he agreed to when signed them into law. With this proposal, the President has chosen not merely to disregard but to hide the dangers we face.”
Sen. Sessions said, “The President’s plan spends $791 billion above Ryan-Murray, casually wiping away the newly-established spending limits. The President’s plan increases spending next year alone by $114 billion, including $56 billion in spending above the Ryan-Murray discretionary caps. The President’s plan dramatically raises taxes by $1.76 trillion—double last year’s proposed tax hike. These astounding new taxes in reality will never happen, and provide a cover to mask the cost of the extraordinary new spending.”
Sen. Sessions continued, “The President’s plan increases mandatory spending 78 percent and Medicare and Medicaid spending 73 percent, displaying not even the slightest care for—or offering any steps to prevent—the impending insolvency of these programs. Nor is any measure proposed to shore up Social Security. The President’s plan adds $8.3 trillion to our nation’s gross federal debt. The President’s plan is an open declaration that deficits don’t matter, debt doesn’t matter, and that reality itself doesn’t matter.”
Sen. Sessions warned that last year we paid $221 billion in interest alone to service our growing federal debt. The President’s plan does nothing to reduce the deficit much less pay down the debt. According to Sessions, annual interest payments will rise to $812 billion. Sessions said that translates into $424 a month in interest costs for every American worker. “This money is not used for roads or bridges or schools—it must be used only to pay off our creditors, and has become the fastest growing item in the federal budget.” “Annual interest costs in this budget will exceed our nation’s entire defense budget in just five years.”
Sen. Sessions warned that the President’s plan, “Will further grow the government, shrink the middle class, and shield the political elite from accountability as they raid the nation’s wealth.”
Sen. Sessions appeared on Laura Ingraham’s national talk radio show. Ingraham told Sessions that he should run for President.
Miss Ingraham said afterwards, “Really, is there anyone out there who is better than Jeff Sessions on any of these issues? He’s great. I think someone like Sessions could probably attract Democrats, Hispanics who are here legally who are tired of these stupid trade agreements and who have had their own wages undercut by illegal immigration, African Americans, certainly I think a lot of Tea Party people. Sessions is one of the few people to actually say it like it is.” Sen. Sessions has told the Republican leadership to stop catering to the demands of Wall Street and corporate elitists and start advocating policies that will raise wages, employment, and economic prospects for the American worker.
U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions is the Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee.
