With Election Day not yet a month past, the Democrat’s promise of fiscal responsibility has already been ditched. Wednesday, The Hill newspaper reported:
Even the most ardent deficit hawk among House Democratic leaders says the cost of overhauling the nation’s healthcare system will be heaped on top of the snowballing federal debt, at least initially…. “Our objective is going to be [to] have a pay-go-compliant policy over the longer term,” Hoyer said in an appearance at the National Press Club. “That may not be possible in the short term, given where we are.”
This reinforces the rumor that the Democrats may do away with Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO) budgeting rules for the next Congress. The PAYGO rules attempt to force Congress to make the same budgetary trade-offs that we make every day: If you can’t afford something, don’t buy it.
Before the Democrats took power, they were strong supporters. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) pronounced in March that,
We’re absolutely committed to pay-go… The Speaker is committed to pay-go. I’m very committed to pay-go. Our caucus is committed to pay-go.
Apparently, the concept of budget trade-offs, which the Democrats were so committed to less than a year ago, no longer applies when their party is about to be in the White House.
