[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 110 (Tuesday, July 21, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H8415]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


              BLUE DOGS ENDORSE PAY-AS-YOU-GO LEGISLATION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Florida (Mr. Boyd) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BOYD. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to highlight the pay-as-you-go 
legislation that the House will be considering later this week. This is 
a bill that the Blue Dogs and I have endorsed for the last several 
Congresses. It is a priority of this President and of the House 
leadership and of more than 165 cosponsors of this legislation. I'm 
always intrigued by those who would oppose PAYGO, like my friend, Mr. 
Pence from Indiana, who spoke earlier that basically criticized the 
deficit spending that has occurred, I assume that he would be critical 
of that in the last previous administration and this administration, 
but yet he seems to oppose the one tool that we have that has proven to 
control deficit spending.
  The principle is simple, Mr. Speaker. If you have new spending 
programs, then you have to pay for them. It is very simple. PAYGO was 
one of the tools that led this country in the 1990s to record 
surpluses. However, that tool, PAYGO, and others that were in place, 
were allowed to expire under President Bush and the Republican 
leadership of this body in 2002.
  Those who claim that PAYGO didn't work need simply to look at the 
numbers. When it was on the books, we had balanced budgets and even 
record surpluses. But after it was allowed to expire, we saw the 
explosion of new spending programs and spiraling deficits to go along 
with it. By putting PAYGO back into law, we will get back on the path 
toward fiscal responsibility and long-term sustainability.
  It is no secret by anybody that works in this place and now even out 
in the country, that we have an unsustainable budget picture looking 
forward. When you have a budget hole, Mr. Speaker, the first rule of 
thumb, the first rule you need to follow is stop digging. PAYGO does 
that by ensuring that new programs that are enacted must be paid for. 
We owe it to our children and to their children to stop digging this 
hole deeper.
  I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this PAYGO 
legislation in order to return to fiscal discipline.

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