By CHRISTINE BOATWRIGHT / Staff Writer

ALABASTER – When U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions said he wanted to share some things on his mind during a speaking engagement at the Alabaster Senior Center on Aug. 24, he didn’t hesitate to address the country’s financial crisis head on.

“The truth is our country is facing financial crisis. It’s real,” Sessions said to the group of about 40 senior citizens and local leaders. “We’re borrowing 40 cents of every dollar we spend. It’s not going to get better unless we do something about it.”

Sessions is a ranking member of the budget committee. A ranking member is not the chairman, he said, but the leader of the minority group. The committee is made up of nine republicans and 10 democrats.

Sessions said the president is required to provide a budget.

“He submitted a very irresponsible budget. I’ve said it was the most irresponsible in history,” Sessions said. “It raised taxes considerably and raised spending above the taxes. It would be worse than not doing anything.”

Sessions said U.S. debt is “spinning out of control.” At the current rate of spending, Sessions said the U.S. would be $45 trillion in debt in 10 years.

“Cutting our spending by $2 trillion is not enough, but at least it’s something,” he said, speaking of the recent budget cut.

“(I intend) to examine everything, add up numbers and make sure they’re honest. Other proposals have not been completely accurate,” Sessions said. “I’ve been in the middle of it, and I’ve done the best I can to honestly point out the problems we face.”

The state of Alabama has a constitutional amendment demanding the government produce a balanced budget, but the federal government doesn’t have this type of demand, Sessions said.

“Alabama’s not going to run up huge debts because it’s not allowed to. We need a constitutional amendment to balance the budget,” Sessions said. “We’ve got some people that believe in big government, but I think the American people are coming around on that issue. We need a president with some leadership, too.”