[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 14]
[House]
[Page 18475]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    MAKING STATUTORY PAYGO A REALITY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Louisiana (Mr. Melancon) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MELANCON. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
  If we do not begin paying our bills today, we will continue to short-
change future generations who face higher taxes and cuts to Federal 
investments in priorities such as education, health care and national 
security. In order to ensure our long-term fiscal sustainability, we 
must all work together and return to the proven, effective pay-as-you-
go rules that brought our Federal budget to balance in the 1990s.
  We now have a President who is committed to changing the fiscal 
course of this country. Together, we are committed to putting an end to 
the reckless fiscal policies and out-of-control spending of the past 
that has given us the record deficits we see today. To that end, the 
President has charged Congress with passing statutory PAYGO, and we 
have an obligation to see that this critical piece of legislation 
reaches his desk for signing.
  Our Federal Government simply cannot continue to live beyond its 
means, mortgaging our future on the backs of our children and our 
grandchildren. Reinstituting statutory PAYGO will send a message to the 
American people that their government is serious about putting the 
country back on stable economic footing. The time to act is now. The 
President has put his words into action and I look forward to working 
with the Blue Dogs and my colleagues in the House and the Senate to 
make statutory PAYGO a reality again in this country.

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