One Week After Passing, Congress Set to Break PAYGO

Brandon Stewart /

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

Just last week Congress revived PAYGO legislation which is supposed to force legislators to offset any new spending with spending cuts elsewhere in the budget. While this won’t come as a shock to most Foundry readers, The Hill reports that “the ink is barely dry on the pay-as-you-go law, and Democrats are seeking to bypass it to enact parts of their job-creation agenda.”

The problem with PAYGO is not its intent–serious efforts to reduce the deficit should be met with genuine interest by all conservatives–the problem is its inevitable implementation. PAYGO has unfortunately always been a gimmick. Heritage analyst Brian Reidl explained the main problems this summer when the President first announced his intention to revive PAYGO: (more…)