Sessions Says Administration Deficit Reduction Claims Are False
Sessions Says Administration Deficit Reduction Claims Are False
- AuthorsSessions, Sen. Jeff
- Institutional AuthorsSenateBudget Committee
- Subject Area/Tax Topics
- Jurisdictions
- LanguageEnglish
- Tax Analysts Document NumberDoc 2012-3106
- Tax Analysts Electronic Citation2012 TNT 31-35
February 14, 2012
"The White House has deliberately misrepresented their budget to the American people. The president claims his proposal would achieve $4 trillion in deficit reduction over ten years . . . This is false and I hope you will not repeat it."
"I'd also like to put this rest the argument we heard from your predecessor, Jack Lew, about avoiding short term cuts in favor of long-term savings. There are no spending cuts in the short or long term in this budget plan. Mr. Lew, now the president's chief of staff, made another false claim this weekend, saying that the Democrat Senate is not doing a budget for the third straight year because it requires 60 votes. The law is clear: it only takes 51 votes to pass a budget. If Republicans are given the honor by voters to lead this chamber, we will pass a budget next year. And it will be an honest budget. It will change the debt course of America."
* * * * *
WASHINGTON -- U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, delivered an opening statement today at a hearing with Office of Management and Budget Acting Director Jeffrey Zients regarding the president's FY 2013 budget proposal.
Sessions' remarks, as prepared, follow:
"Mr. Zeints, thank you for appearing before the committee. I wish it was under better circumstances.
The president of the United States has no higher duty, no greater responsibility, than to protect the American people from a clear and present danger.
Every expert and every witness that has testified before this committee has said that we are on an unsustainable financial course that can lead to financial crisis.
Those appearing before our committee have often called for a minimum of $4 trillion in ten-year deficit reduction. Many of us, including Chairman Conrad, would like to achieve savings far beyond this figure. Really, what we should be trying to do -- what the American people expect us to do -- is to balance this budget.
Yet, in the face of an existential economic threat, President Obama submitted a budget yesterday which makes no alternation to our debt course. Under the president's budget plan -- using the White House's own numbers -- total federal debt will reach from approximately $26 trillion, an increase of 75 percent from 2011. Interest rates will rise to $850 annually and spending will increase by more than 60 percent. This year's deficit will be the fourth consecutive deficit in excess of $1 trillion dollars.
Meanwhile, Medicare and Social Security -- for which the president proposes no reforms -- will continue on the path to insolvency.
But if this were not bad enough -- no serious solutions to serious problems -- the White House has deliberately misrepresented their budget to the American people. The president claims his proposal would achieve $4 trillion in deficit reduction over ten years. I guess we should all relax. This is false and I hope you will not repeat it. Under the president's proposal, we will accumulate $11.2 trillion in new gross debt. Under a realistic current policy baseline, we will accumulate $11.5 trillion in gross debt over 10 years. At most, there is $300 billion of deficit reduction in the president's budget -- despite almost $2 trillion in job-crushing taxes.
I'd also like to put this rest the argument we heard from your predecessor, Jack Lew, about avoiding short-term cuts in favor of long-term savings. There are no spending cuts in the short or long term in this budget plan. Mr. Lew, now the president's chief of staff, made another false claim this weekend, saying that the Democrat Senate is not doing a budget for the third straight year because it requires 60 votes. The law is clear: it only takes 51 votes to pass a budget. If Republicans are given the honor by voters to lead this chamber, we will pass a budget next year. And it will be an honest budget. It will change the debt course of America.
By contrast, the president uses accounting tricks to conceal his budget's true cost. For instance: the White House repeals $1.2 trillion in Budget Control Act cuts and doesn't count it as new spending; they stop the planned cuts to Medicare providers without identifying any means to pay for it; they give themselves credit for discretionary caps that are already in law; and they pretend war spending will continue at higher levels so long-planned reductions in borrowing magically produce free money to spend somewhere else.
So, Mr. Zeints, I hope we can have a candid discussion today. I hope we can move past election-year rhetoric, convenient sound bites, and political talking points. The American people have a right to expect honesty, transparency, and accountability from their elected officials."
- AuthorsSessions, Sen. Jeff
- Institutional AuthorsSenateBudget Committee
- Subject Area/Tax Topics
- Jurisdictions
- LanguageEnglish
- Tax Analysts Document NumberDoc 2012-3106
- Tax Analysts Electronic Citation2012 TNT 31-35