Restoring Fiscal Sanity and PAYGO Transcript: Congressional Record April 06, 2006

Mr. DAVIS of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, House Republicans claim to be fiscally responsible; and if that is the case, I encourage them to join the Democrats in supporting a policy called pay-as-you-go.

Democrats strongly support the reinstatement of commonsense pay-as-you-go budget rules that would require any increase in mandatory spending and any decreases in revenue be offset elsewhere in the budget so that we don't add to the deficit.

PAYGO rules were adopted on a bipartisan basis in 1990 and then reenacted again in 1997 before Republicans allowed such rules to expire in 2002. PAYGO budget rules are widely credited with producing record budget surpluses between 1998 and 2001.

President Bush and congressional Republicans previously supported PAYGO rules for both spending and taxes, but now oppose the application of such rules to taxes because they would be forced to offset their tax legislation. They seem willing to let the deficit spiral out of control as long as they continue to give and provide tax breaks to the very wealthy.

It is time that the Republicans start thinking about our Nation's future. It is imperative we reject the budget so we can reinstate PAYGO rules that will restore fiscal discipline.