Van Hollen: Today Is An Important Day For Budget Discipline In America

Statement

Van Hollen: Today Is An Important Day For Budget Discipline In America

Today Congressman Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) issued the following statement on final passage of legislation to establish statutory pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) requirements:

"Today is an important day for budget discipline in America. For the first time since 2002, Congress is once again bringing the force of law to the common sense proposition that the federal government should pay for what it buys. The history is clear -- when Congress lived under PAYGO in the 1990s, we turned deficits into record surpluses. After PAYGO was abandoned, deficits skyrocketed and our national debt nearly doubled.

"Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts. It is a fact that before President Obama was sworn in last year, America faced a record budget deficit of $1.3 trillion. It is also a fact that virtually all of last year's fiscal imbalance is attributable to the legacy of financial mismanagement that President Obama inherited from the previous Administration. The Bush Administration felt no need to pay for a variety of programs, including tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, the war in Iraq, and the prescription drug program. All of that was placed on our national credit card, pushing us further into the red. We are working now to address the damage that reckless spending caused.

"PAYGO is proven, common sense fiscal policy. It will force Congress to prioritize and make the same kinds of choices our constituents make every day. Under this legislation, virtually any new policy that reduces revenue or increases mandatory spending will have to be offset elsewhere in the budget. In reinstating PAYGO, we've put our nation back on the path to fiscal responsibility."

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