There is a House in Washington…
Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill to reinstate "PAYGO", the pay-as-you-go spending policy that requires expenditures to be financed with currently existing, rather than borrowed, funds. On the surface, this appears to be a fiscally responsible guideline; during the Clinton years, PAYGO helped control the deficit and, coupled with the economic boom and a number of other factors, lead to the budget surplus.
But dig a little deeper and you'll find that nothing about this bill address fiscal restraint. In fact, the opposite is true; underneath the smoke and mirrors is a provision to raise the debt ceiling by nearly $2 trillion. Dig deeper, and you'll uncover the troubling fact that the bill also includes exemptions for nearly 40% of all spending – over 160 spending programs. That's right… it's a pay-as-you-go policy, but on almost half of all expenditures, it's all go and no pay.
This article appears in Feb 3-9, 2010.