Remembering 2011 Milestones
November 2nd: Lee Co-Sponsors Reform to Eliminate Budget Gimmicks
WASHINGTON – Today, Senator Mike Lee will co-sponsor legislation that eliminates the most common budgetary gimmicks used by Congress to hide hundreds of billions of dollars in spending. In the past six years alone, the tricks addressed in the Honest Budget Act (S.1651) have enabled Congress to spend over $350 billion, money that the country simply doesn’t have.
“For too long, Washington has been using budgetary tricks and gimmicks to hide the real cost of government spending,” said Senator Lee. “The federal budget is often nothing more than a shell game: a sleight-of-hand hoax that leaves Americans wondering where the real numbers are hidden. This is not how a transparent, responsible government functions. The people deserve better.”
The Honest Budget Act will put an end to disingenuous practices such as phony rescissions, abuse of the “emergency spending” designation, and certain types of automatic pay increases, as well as require a supermajority vote to proceed to a spending bill without a budget in place.
In total, the HBA will eliminate nine different gimmicks that have been abused as part of ‘business as usual’ in Washington.
“This legislation is a significant step forward toward reforming how Washington works and putting the country on a fiscally sustainable path.”
For more information, please visit:
http://budget.senate.gov/republican/public/index.cfm/honest-budget-act
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LEE: The OLC “conclusion violates the basic separation of government powers enshrined in our Constitution” http://bit.ly/AsySD8 #Recessgate
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Around the Water Cooler
Lee Blasts Justification for Recess Appointments
Today, Senator Mike Lee voiced concerns over the legal advice provided to the President by the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) regarding presidential recess appointment authority.
“In the memorandum released today, OLC effectively asserts that the President may unilaterally determine if and when the Senate is in recess for purposes of exercising his recess appointment power. This remarkable and novel assertion breaks with 90 years of historical precedent. Even more disturbing, this conclusion violates the basic separation of government powers enshrined in our Constitution,” said Senator Lee, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The executive who was appointed to lead mortgage giant Fannie Mae in 2009 after the federal government seized the company plans to step down as its CEO.
Michael J. Williams announced Tuesday he will continue as CEO and as a director until a successor is found.
“I decided the time is right to turn over the reins to a new leader,” he said in a statement. Williams, 53, has been a Fannie employee since 1991.