The Progressive Case for PAYGO

America is in a massive fiscal hole. And on behalf of President Obama, we have helped to introduce a bill designed to start digging us out: pay-as-you-go, or PAYGO. The idea behind PAYGO is simple: our country, like any family struggling with deep credit card debt, must start paying for what it buys.

PAYGO helped President Clinton turn Reagan's deficits into a record $5.6 trillion projected surplus. PAYGO stood in the way of President Bush's massive tax cuts for the most privileged, leading congressional Republicans and the president to choose instead to finance the tax cuts with borrowed money and ultimately repeal PAYGO, turning the surplus back into massive deficits. Today, recommitting ourselves to paying for what we buy is crucial to rolling back deficits once again -- and equally crucial to achieving progressive goals for all Americans.

There has long been a misconception that fiscal discipline is somehow only a conservative position. The truth is that PAYGO has long been embraced by progressive members of Congress. They are well-represented among the more than 160 House Democrats who have already co-sponsored the President's PAYGO legislation.

Why is PAYGO important for progressives? For one, the investments that matter most -- clean energy technology, affordable higher education, and health care access -- demand long-term commitment, year after year. None of them are one-time payments. But the deeper our deficit gets, the more and more interest payments on our debt will crowd out spending on everything progressives value. As Bob Greenstein of the respected Center on Budget and Policy Priorities put it, "Without changes in current policies, we face the prospect of rapidly growing federal deficits and debt over time that will pose a significant threat to the U.S. economy, to the standard of living of all Americans, and to the ability of the government to meet the needs of its citizens."

Fiscal discipline today will make sure that we can afford to pay for our most important priorities 10 or 20 years down the road.

Additionally, PAYGO would apply to new entitlement and new tax cuts but not to programs that are funded through the annual appropriations process such as funding for elementary and secondary education, Head Start, health research, environmental protection and other basic government functions. Mandatory programs that assist low-income Americans, such as Medicaid, Social Security, the Children's Health Insurance Program, and Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, are also protected against any across-the-board cuts that result from a PAYGO violation.

Should Republicans come back into power, they'd find a PAYGO law to be a powerful bulwark against reckless debt-financed tax cuts. President Bush was able to push through his unaffordable tax cuts only by waiving PAYGO. The costs were not paid up-front, by those who reaped the benefits -- instead, the costs will be borne, with interest, by our children. With a PAYGO law in place, future tax cutters would have to explain just which programs they would cut in order to send a windfall to the wealthy. PAYGO will force Republicans and Democrats alike to make clear the consequences of our actions.

President Obama's PAYGO proposal exempts some spending, such as extending current policy on the Alternative Minimum Tax, the estate and income tax cuts passed in 2001 and 2003, and Medicare payments to doctors. Some have criticized those exemptions, but we agree with the President that we need them to keep PAYGO enforceable and credible. No one believes there enough votes to offset extensions of those policies; a law pretending otherwise would look like an empty promise.

PAYGO is a fresh start. It is the beginning of many years of hard work to get our country back in the black while meeting our most pressing priorities. The interests of progressives will be well served by making PAYGO law again.

Comments

[burndtdan]

Use it to add some new income tax brackets on the top.

[ChicagoBob]

Debt management?

Sounds like a good idea. A very good idea.

Once again, the Dems will do what the Repuks can only talk about.

[Chernynkaya]

Where is my post on Robert Borosage's report on Paygo???

[nickels]

Shame we couldn't have worried about this when it was time to bail out Wall Street. Now that we are on to things like health care, it is time to start worrying about how to pay for everything. Funny how that works.

[robbep]

you know i was thinking the same thing. didnt hear much about paygo when we were starting two wars. didnt hear much about paygo when it was time to bailout wallstreet, now that it is time to get health care reform the blue dogs want to talk about paygo. getting our debt under control is important but now is not the time. you cant stimulate the economy and focus on debt reduction at the same time and get the results you are looking for. a double minded man achieves nothing. this focus on defecits is nothing more than a scare tactic to stop us from making some changes in this country. lets stimulate our economy and create jobs which will increase revenues which will help reduce defecits. Finally, i wldnt mind spnding extra money to help our country reduce its defecits but i dont see anyone asking the people to help out. Why not set up a fund and ask people to contribute to rescuing our country? Lets see how many real patriots live here.

[mizerello]

While it's great to finally hear from the Democrats in the House, forgive me for suggesting to you both that you and the Democrats in the House and Senate need to learn how to use the media, especially the cable news networks, more effectively. Too often on CNN, MSNBC and, of course, on FOX, we see 10 Republicans for every 1 Democrat appearing, promoting the idea among people in our population who aren't as in tune with reality, of the tax and spend Democrat. You appear very weak, quite frankly, and when you do appear on these shows, you allow your Republican counterparts to shout over you, as you all talk about "your friends on the right." You need to emphasize the fact that every time a Republican has held the White House, we've had deficits. Each time Democrats take the WH, we end up better off, fiscally speaking.

PAYGO is a great idea but I would also appreciate hearing that those great little tax breaks Bush gave the richest among us have been rescinded.

[lukasiak]

Congressman Hoyer, progressives don't have a problem with "paygo". What we have a problem with is your utter and despicable hypocrisy. You've been voting to fund the Iraq war from day one -- with no concern over what it did to the deficit. You supported the bailout of the banks -- trillions of dollars added to the deficit with no plan to recover the money.

But when it comes to providing adequate health care for all Americans, suddenly your a budget balancer? Give me a freaking break....

[Chernynkaya]

Here's a summary of what Huffpo blogger Robert Borosage said about this; decide for yourself who to believe.

Paygo is a bill championed by Blue Dogs in the House and Senate. Paygo requires the Congress to pay for any expansion of entitlements (guaranteed benefits like Social Security Medicare) or decrease in taxes.

At a time of unprecedented deficits, they want to cutting spending and balance the budget.
Blue Dogs are the first to line up to vote for massive spending on wars, which is exempt from paygo rules.

We are in the midst of the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression. In these conditions, with consumers and businesses cutting back, workers getting laid off, families losing their homes, the federal government must step in to boost the economy. Deficit spending is essential, not evil.

Paygo is an atavistic throwback to the conservative Reagan economics

Speaker Pelosi supports paygo as a way of keeping the Blue Dogs appeased.

Here's the full post;

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-l-borosage/symbolic-blather-washingt_b_227481.html?page=3&show_comment_id=26785166#comment_26785166

How dare they call this Progressive.

[underoath]

Good luck on passing paygo the GOP will fight you every step of the way .