[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 14422]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




STATUTORY PAY-AS-YOU-GO ACT OF 2009--MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE 
                   UNITED STATES (H. DOC. NO. 111-46)

  The SPEAKER pro tempore laid before the House the following message 
from the President of the United States; which was read and, together 
with the accompanying papers, referred to the Committee on the Budget 
and ordered to be printed:

To the Congress of the United States:
  Today I am pleased to submit to the Congress the enclosed legislative 
proposal, the ``Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2009,'' or ``PAYGO,'' 
together with a sectional analysis.
  The deficits that my Administration inherited reflect not only a 
severe economic downturn but also years of failing to pay for new 
policies--including large tax cuts that disproportionately benefited 
the affluent. This failure of fiscal discipline contributed to 
transforming surpluses projected at the beginning of this decade into 
trillions of dollars in deficits. I am committed to returning our 
Government to a path of fiscal discipline, and PAYGO represents a key 
step back to the path of shared responsibility.
  PAYGO would hold us to a simple but important principle: we should 
pay for new tax or entitlement legislation. Creating a new non-
emergency tax cut or entitlement expansion would require offsetting 
revenue increases or spending reductions.
  In the 1990s, statutory PAYGO encouraged the tough choices that 
helped to move the Government from large deficits to surpluses, and I 
believe it can do the same today. Both houses of Congress have already 
taken an important step toward righting our fiscal course by adopting 
congressional rules incorporating the PAYGO principle. But we can 
strengthen enforcement and redouble our commitment by enacting PAYGO 
into law.
  Both the Budget I have proposed and the Budget Resolution approved by 
the Congress would cut the deficit in half by the end of my first term, 
while laying a new foundation for sustained and widely shared economic 
growth through key investments in health, education, and clean energy. 
Enacting statutory PAYGO would complement these efforts and represent 
an important step toward strengthening our budget process, cutting 
deficits, and reducing national debt. Ultimately, however, we will have 
to do even more to restore fiscal sustainability.
  I urge the prompt and favorable consideration of this proposal.
                                                       Barack Obama.   
The White House, June 9, 2009.

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