Democrats Formally Introduce Paygo Legislation

By Celia Canon – Talk Radio News Service

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer announced Pay-as-you-go legislation on Wednesday, designed to get the national debt under control and reduce a $1.3 trillion fiscal deficit.

Paygo was originally introduced during the Clinton administration, and Democrats argue it was one of the factors that helped contribute to the budget surplus by the time Clinton left office. The measure expired during the Bush administration.

“Pay-as-you-go budgeting will force Congress and the President, whether Democrats or Republicans, to make tough but necessary decisions about our nation’s priorities and how we will afford them,” said Hoyer, adding that “under statutory pay-as-you-go budgeting, Congress cannot cut taxes, or increase spending on new entitlements without finding a way to pay for the new costs associated with those choices.”

One of the Democrats’ main concerns, he said, was to prevent this generation from passing the costs and burdens of the fiscal deficit to future generations.

“Paygo is a way out,” said Rep. Baron Hill (D-Ind.), and has “a history of being successful.” It is a great way to ensure “that granddaughters like mine and others won’t have to face a debt twenty years from now,” he said.

Peter Orzac, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, maintained that “the President is firmly commitment to making sure that health care reform is not only done in a fiscally responsible way, and which is it not only deficit-neutral over the next decade, but also embodies key steps that will lead to a more efficient health care system.”