Fiscal Discipline
“This Congress’ record on fiscal discipline and meeting our national priorities sends the President this message: the days of the fiscally irresponsible Rubber Stamp Republican Congress are over.”
-Speaker Nancy Pelosi
-Speaker Nancy Pelosi
Our federal budget should be a statement of our national values. One of those values is responsibility. Democrats are ending years of irresponsible budget policies that have produced historic deficits. Instead of piling trillions of dollars of debt onto our children and grandchildren, we have restored Pay-As-You-Go budget discipline.
During its first 100 hours, the 110th Congress approved a rules package that included Pay-As-You-Go Budgeting. Under Pay-As-You-Go, we do not allow consideration of any bill, amendment or conference report where the combine effect of provisions affecting mandatory spending (such as Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and farm bill) and revenue would increase the deficit over the five-year and ten-year windows, relative to the Congressional Budget Office baseline. Pay-As-You-Go legislation protects our grandchildren from mountains of debt and spurs economic growth.
Budget discipline was abandoned by the Bush Administration and its Republican congressional majorities. Congress under Republican control turned a projected $5.6 trillion 10-year surplus at the end of the Clinton years into a $3.2 trillion deficit– including the five biggest deficits in the history of America. Nearly half of our nation’s record debt is owned by foreign countries and more than 80 cents of every dollar of new debt is bought by foreign investors. Without a return to fiscal discipline, the foreign countries that make our computers, our clothing and our toys will soon be making our foreign policy. Deficit spending is not just a fiscal problem - it’s a national security issue as well.
![Deficit Chart](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090101090322im_/http://www.speaker.gov/img/deficits.jpg)
In April 2008, the debt stood at $9.4 trillion, meaning that your share of the national debt is at nearly $31,000. Our New Direction Congress is committed to Pay-As-You-Go budgeting - no more deficit spending. We are committed to auditing the books and subjecting every facet of federal spending to tough budget discipline and accountability.