{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.enzi.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news-releases?ContentRecord_id=e55a3e20-a32a-4dc7-b4d9-988d2dc37bfb", "Enzi: Ryan-Murray budget deal spends more than current law", "2013-12-11", "2013", "2013-12", "Republican", "House", "WY", "Michael Enzi", "E000285", "www.enzi.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "The budget agreement written and negotiated by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis. and Senator Patty Murray, D-Wash., looks a lot like many other budget deals negotiated behind closed doors, according to U.S. Senator Mike Enzi, R-Wyo.\u00a0 He said it increases spending and shows that one thing some Democrats and Republicans can agree on is putting off hard decisions.\r\n\u201cThere are some good ideas in this budget.\u00a0 We shouldn\u2019t be paying prison inmates improper benefits.\u00a0 We should get some unobligated account balances off the books.\u00a0 \u00a0However, these are things we should do no matter what, along with so many other \u2018waste, fraud and abuse\u2019 measures.\u00a0 This budget deal is like so many others that put off hard decisions until much later.\u00a0 A dollar saved now is worth much more than any \u2018saved\u2019 10 years out,\u201d said Enzi\u00a0 \u201cThis plan spends more than current law.\u00a0 It charges people and states more for things, such as pensions and uses the money to increase spending in non-related areas.\u00a0 Most spending cuts are scheduled for outlying years and the so called \u2018savings\u2019 are used up right away.\u00a0 It isn\u2019t real.\u201d\r\nThe Ryan-Murray plan would make permanent a provision instituted in 2008 that requires states to pay a two percent \u201cadministrative fee\u201d to the federal government for the collection of mineral royalties.\u00a0 This continues a bad practice, according to Enzi.\r\n\u201cThis only effects a few states, so negotiators and the Administration see it as an easy pot of money.\u00a0 I introduced legislation with Senator Barrasso, Representative Lummis and a bi-partisan group of legislators from effected states that would prevent this from happening.\u00a0 Wyoming is fully capable of collecting its share of mineral revenues without help from the federal government so we shouldn\u2019t have to pay for that.\u00a0 We\u2019ll continue working to reverse this unjust practice,\u201d Enzi said.\u00a0\r\nEnzi said the so-called budget conference committee for all practical purposes did not exist.\u00a0 The agreement was the sole product of Ryan and Murray.\u00a0 Members of the committee learned the particulars of the deal at the same time as the public and were not part of the negotiations.\u00a0\r\n\u201cThis is a symptom of the abandonment of the committee process.\u00a0 Instead of representatives and senators offering constructive amendments and debating spending bills in public, a couple people and their staff sit in a room and then present a take-it-or-leave-it deal right before a holiday or manufactured crisis deadline,\u201d Enzi said.\u00a0\r\nThe Ryan-Murray budget deal will go straight to the House floor without a committee vote.\u00a0 If the House passes it, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is expected to block amendments in the Senate.\u00a0 President Obama has praised the agreement.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.enzi.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news-releases?ContentRecord_id=e55a3e20-a32a-4dc7-b4d9-988d2dc37bfb"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9256899356842041, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}