[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 14]
[House]
[Page 18840]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    A COMMITMENT TO STATUTORY PAYGO

  (Mr. KRATOVIL asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. KRATOVIL. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of the statutory 
PAYGO legislation passed by the House yesterday. My colleagues on the 
other side of the aisle are certainly correct that this legislation is 
not perfect. Of course, I'm finding in my first seven months here in 
Congress that no legislation we pass in this House is perfect. Such is 
the nature of legislating and the compromise that comes with it.
  My colleagues on the other side of the aisle, however, in my view, 
are incorrect in that this legislation is not a positive step in 
restoring us to the financial discipline that led us to the large 
surpluses in the 1990s.
  Statutory PAYGO holds the Federal Government to the simple, but 
important, principles that American families demand of themselves: you 
cannot spend money that you do not have, and when one part of your 
budget expands, another must tighten.
  The passage of statutory PAYGO proves the House of Representatives 
can learn a lesson from the families we represent by ensuring that both 
new tax and entitlement legislation alike is paid for.
  The large deficits we inherited as a result of the borrow-and-spend 
policies of the past have put pressure on funding for education, clean 
energy and other important investments. Our national priorities will no 
longer be held hostage to our lack of self-restraint when it comes to 
spending.
  We must balance short-term deficit spending in order to pursue 
effective economic recovery with a commitment to restoring financial 
discipline in the long term.
  This begins with yesterday's commitment to statutory PAYGO.

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