Actions
The Blue Dog Coalition was instrumental in persuading the 110th Congress to reinstate PAYGO in the Rules of the House.
See the PAYGO section of the current Rules of the House
The Blue Dog Coalition is committed to strengthening the current PAYGO rules and I am proud to be a co-sponsor of H.R. 2116, which extends PAYGO rules through 2014 and enacts PAYGO into law.
See H.R. 2116 as introduced
See the Blue Dog press release on statutory PAYGO
In February 2009, the Blue Dog Coalition met with President Obama to discuss our need to reign in federal spending and put an end to our spiraling deficit. President Obama signaled his support for reinstating statutory PAYGO into law. In addition, Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Hoyer have also called for the enactment of statutory PAYGO.
See the press release on the President's commitment to fiscal accountability
See letter from President Obama on statutory PAYGO
See letter from Speaker Pelosi and Leader Hoyer on statutory PAYGO I was proud to co-sponsor H.Res. 40 with my fellow Blue Dog colleague John Tanner (D-TN), which unanimously passed the House on January 14, 2009. This resolution amended the House rules to add additional layers of oversight and accountability over government spending by shining light on the most egregious cases of government waste. The measure requires each House committee to hold at least three hearings per year on waste, fraud, and abuse on programs under each respective committee's jurisdiction. It also requires hearings if the Government Accountability Office (GAO) finds a program to be at high risk for waste, fraud, and abuse, or if an agency's auditor issues a financial disclaimer of the agency's financial records.
See the press release on H.Res.40
See H.Res. 40 as passed
I, along with my Blue Dog colleagues, worked to ensure that the FY 2010 budget conference report (S.Con.Res. 13) while rebuilding our economy in the short-term, also begins to put our country back on track fiscally over the long-term. As a result of our efforts, the budget spends $10 billion less than the President's proposal, cuts the deficit by nearly two thirds in four years, requires healthcare reform and other initiatives to be deficit-neutral, includes funding for program integrity to identify waste and abuse in government spending, and calls for major reforms in federal contracting and procurement, particularly at the Department of Defense. Most importantly, the budget resolution sets the stage for reinstating PAYGO rules into law.
See the Blue Dog press release on the House-passed budget resolution
See S.Con.Res. 13 as passed by the House and Senate
The Blue Dogs cut $50 billion in unnecessary spending in the recently-passed economic recovery bill. We also worked to eliminate non-stimulative spending items such as funding for family planning, sod on the mall, a tax break for Hollywood, funding for smoking cessation activities, and more.
See H.R. 1, the “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009” as signed into law |