[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 14]
[House]
[Pages 18472-18473]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        RESTORE STATUTORY PAYGO

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. Tonko) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. TONKO. Mr. Speaker, the House will be taking up H.R. 2920 this 
week, the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2009, otherwise known as 
PAYGO.
  This bill, sponsored by our majority leader, the gentleman from 
Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), will renew our commitment to fiscal 
responsibility and protect core democratic values.
  As the President said less than 2 months ago, the pay-as-you-go rule 
is very simple: Congress can only spend a dollar in one place if it 
saves a dollar in another. Just as families cut back on eating out at 
restaurants to pay for a new amenity, so too must Congress make 
difficult balancing decisions.
  In fact, this rule was put in place when the country saw record 
deficits turn into record surpluses during the 1990s. It is no surprise 
to learn that when this rule was abandoned, we returned to record 
deficits that in turn doubled our national debt.
  PAYGO legislation will reestablish this requirement that turned 
deficits into surpluses under the Clinton administration.
  It is also critically important to pass PAYGO to ensure our fiscal 
health and stability as Congress considers health care reform 
legislation, a necessary item. We must be able to pay for this reform 
without unduly burdening our American taxpayers. To understand this 
critically important PAYGO legislation and the record deficits this 
country is facing, we must understand how we got here. We must move 
toward a more balanced budget which will initiate an era of fiscal 
responsibility and a stronger long term fiscal position. PAYGO is an 
important and critical piece of legislation in that process.
  First, a number of factors have brought us to this cash-strapped 
position. Under the previous administration, the PAYGO principle was 
abandoned, reckless tax cuts were passed for the wealthy and two wars 
were funded outside of the budget process. On top of that, our economy 
has seen one of the most severe recessions since the Great Depression. 
Congressional efforts to get the economy moving again have proven to be 
fairly effective thus far, but they have come at a price.
  Understanding these problems and the long term fiscal restraints, 
what does the PAYGO legislation do? It will require that all new 
policies reducing revenues or expanding entitlement spending enacted 
during a session of Congress be offset over 5 and 10 years. As Congress 
did in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, PAYGO will include 
an exemption for legislation designated as an emergency.
  PAYGO will require any future extension of upper income tax cuts to 
be offset, as well as force a serious examination of wasteful subsidies 
in the budget and tax loopholes that can be eliminated to benefit more 
worthwhile programs. This means that PAYGO

[[Page 18473]]

will force advocates of tax cuts to acknowledge the costs and show how 
they will be paid for, as well as ensuring that we can afford to fund 
America's most important priorities consistently for future 
generations.
  Certain exemptions on discretionary programs funded in the 
appropriations process will be granted under PAYGO. These programs are 
the low income home energy assistance program, our Head Start program, 
Pell grants, the special supplemental nutrition program for women, 
infants, and children, and housing assistance.
  PAYGO will also establish an enforcement mechanism in nonexempt 
mandatory programs at the end of year if Congress has not already paid 
for the cost of all legislation enacted during that given year.
  Mr. Speaker, this legislation is a priority for the President. He 
understands, as we do, that we must balance short-term deficit spending 
for economic recovery with a commitment to restoring fiscal discipline 
in the long term. The large deficits that we inherited as a result of 
the reckless borrow-and-spend policies of the previous administration 
have put pressure on funding for important priorities such as health 
care, education and clean energy jobs. We must ensure that regardless 
of who is in power, PAYGO will be a powerful impediment to reckless tax 
cuts financed by debt.
  Mr. Speaker, the people of our country elect us to come to Washington 
to represent them in the best way that we can. After years of 
unrestrained spending, budget gimmicks and rampant waste, as well as 
fraud and abuse in Federal spending, it is clear we cannot continue 
along that same fiscal path. We are in a deep fiscal hole. However, 
with the right tools, including a statutory PAYGO budgeting process, we 
can reverse this dangerous trend and begin to put the country back on a 
fiscally sustainable path.
  Mr. Speaker, that is why I support H.R. 2920 and encourage our 
colleagues to do the same.

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