Sen. Sessions: Jack Lew Produced 'Worst Budget Maybe in History'

Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee Jeff Sessions (R-AL) took the fight to Obama Treasury Secretary nominee Jack Lew in a Freedom Works interview with Kristina Ribali on Thursday and said he’s “determined to try to make sure that every senator” knows the truth about Lew’s deceptiveness and incompetence.

“I am determined to try to make sure that every senator, before they vote, knows that this man failed to not only address, as you noted, the great challenge of our time but that he produced a budget that wouldn’t do anything to fix it and misrepresented what it would do,” said Sessions.

The Alabama senator noted that his role as ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee has allowed him to see Lew’s incompetence up close and personal:

As ranking Republican on the budget committee, Kristina, I’ve dealt with this most directly.  I really don’t think in busy, busy Washington most of our colleagues realize Jack Lew’s role in producing the worst budget maybe in history–one that got not a single vote.  I don’t think they realize just how false his testimony and public statements were about it.    

In an eye-opening National Review article, Sessions catalogued a series of Lew’s “egregious falsehoods” and said the Obama nominee must be defeated because “no man serving in the White House has done more to scuttle the hopes of a meaningful long-term debt agreement than Jack Lew.” 

Opposition to the Lew nomination appears to be growing on both sides of the aisle.  Self-described socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) has already stated he will oppose Lew for the top post at Treasury.  Wall Street has also soured on the Lew pick.

Whether Republican Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) will lead an aggressive opposition to Obama’s nominee for Treasury Secretary, as many conservatives are arguing should be done, remains to be seen.  Either way, says Sen. Sessions, mounting a strong GOP opposition to the Lew nomination is the first step in rolling back the big spending ways of the Obama Administration.

“I think Republicans should seize upon this opportunity and point out that we’re not getting the leadership we need–not the honest, serious proposals that will put us on a sound path to prosperity,” said Sessions.