Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act Of 2009

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Ms. MCCOLLUM. Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 2920, the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2009, which re-commits the Congress to the fiscal restraint and deficit reduction that produced budget surpluses and shared prosperity during the 1990s.

The Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act, or ``PAYGO,'' requires Congress to offset the costs of tax cuts or increases in entitlement spending with savings elsewhere in the budget. This proposal is enforceable and it is realistic because it allows Congress to maintain a select number of policies without offsets such as Medicare physician payments and the Alternative Minimum Tax that Congress votes overwhelmingly to extend every year.

H.R. 2920 is similar to the PAYGO law Democrats enacted under President Clinton to reverse the huge deficits created by the Reagan and George H.W. Bush Administrations. Unfortunately, another President Bush and a Republican-controlled Congress allowed these rules to expire in 2002 with devastating results. Reckless tax cuts for the wealthy and an Iraq war financed with deficit spending transformed a projected budget surplus of $5.6 trillion into a projected deficit of $4.5 trillion in only a few short years. The Bush Administration's uncontrolled deficit spending and total failure to regulate the financial sector produced an economic meltdown that pushed the U.S. economy to the brink of collapse by early 2009.

Thankfully, responsibility is again in fashion in Washington. President Obama and the Democratic Congress are focused on economic recovery and modernization. Statutory PAYGO is a crucial step to restore fiscal discipline, force difficult choices on taxes and spending, and begin reducing the deep deficits left by the previous Administration. As a member of the House Budget and Appropriations Committees, I know that deficit reduction will enable the Congress to make needed investments in priorities such as health care, education, and clean energy in the coming years.

I urge my colleagues to vote with me to pass the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act and make the Congress live with the same reality every Minnesota family faces: you cannot spend money you do not have.

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