Niraj Chokshi | September 20, 2012
Updated at 9:55 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 21, to include detail from the OMB report.Two Republican senators on Thursday criticized the Office of Management and Budget for failing to provide what they say is legally mandated analysis in its recent report on the looming spending cuts slated for 2013. In a letter to OMB director Jeffrey Zients, Sens. John Thune, R-S.D., and Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., accused the office of dragging its feet all year long and for failing in its report to explain the impact the cuts will have at the program, project, and activity level. "We were disappointed to receive a report that did not provide the level of detail required under the law," they wrote in the letter. The report, released last week, outlines the impact of the across-the-board spending cuts scheduled to take effect next year, a package Congress committed to last summer as a tactic to force lawmakers to take action before 2013. In the report, OMB writes that the act mandating the analysis "included a requirement to show reductions for each account at the program, project, and activity (PPA) level." But, OMB wrote, due to the short timeframe allotted for putting the report together and the difficulty in analyzing so many programs, "additional time is necessary" to provide further detail. "With sequestration scheduled to take effect in just over three months, it is critical that this information be made public," the senators wrote. "We respectfully ask that you inform us when Congress and the American people might expect this information." OMB had not responded to a request for comment late Thursday afternoon.
