Congressman Phil Hare (D-IL) today voted for the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act (PAYGO), legislation that requires Congress to pay for any new spending or tax cuts. If this bill is enacted, any increase in spending will have to be offset by spending decreases elsewhere, or by higher taxes. Likewise, any tax cuts will have to be accompanied by decreases in spending because of that lost revenue.

“PAYGO holds Congress to the same standard as America’s working families,” Hare said. “You should pay for what you buy.”

The deficit is now $1.7 trillion, largely a result of the current recession and the reckless fiscal policies pursued by President Bush and his allies in Congress. In the 1990’s, the Clinton Administration turned the deficits it inherited into record surpluses. A large factor in that economic turnaround was the adoption of PAYGO rules by Congress. In 2002, Republicans allowed PAYGO to expire, turning record surpluses into record deficits in order to push through tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.

“I am deeply troubled by the size of our deficit and remain committed to reducing it in the years ahead,” Hare said. “Republicans were wrong to abandon PAYGO in 2002; forcing future generations to pay for their tax cuts for the rich. It is time to get back to the sound fiscal policies of the 1990’s and get our deficits under control.”

On regaining the Congressional majority in 2007, Democrats made PAYGO a part of House rules. This bill would strengthen PAYGO by giving it the force of law.

Earlier this year, Hare supported the economic recovery package as a necessary emergency response to the current recession. A New York Times analysis recently showed that only 7 percent of the deficit is attributable to that legislation.  90 percent is linked to the economic downturn, Bush Administration policies, and the extension of those policies.