A top-ranking Republican senator on spending issues is calling on President Obama to submit an entirely new budget to Congress following news that the president plans a speech outlining changes to entitlement spending that are driving the government’s huge deficits now and into coming decades.
“I think he needs to do more than to just give a speech. I think he’s gonna need to submit a new budget,” Sen. Jeff Sessions, Alabama Republican and head of the Senate Budget Committee, said Sunday on Fox News.
The remarks came shortly after Obama adviser David Plouffe announced a speech, to be held Wednesday, by Obama on entitlement reform.
Sessions also reiterated calls by Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner that any votes to raise the debt ceiling will require significant concessions by Democrats on the spending front.
Regarding specifics, Sessions listed several major structural changes that could alter the process of how Congress spends money going forward.
Those included creating a new two-year budget process, rather than the annual process in place now, enacting statutory spending caps and passing a balanced budget constitutional amendment.
“Those…are the kind of things that could put us on the right course,” Sessions said.