U.S. Senator Ken Salazar Member of the Agriculture, Energy and Veterans Affairs Committees 2300 15^th Street, Suite 450 Denver, CO 80202 | 702 Hart Senate Building, Washington, D.C. 20510
For Immediate Release March 15, 2005		CONTACT: Cody Wertz – Press Secretary 202-228-3630 Jen Clanahan – Deputy Press Secretary 303-455-7600
SENATOR SALAZAR FIGHTS TO REINSTATE COMMON SENSE BUDGETING IN WASHINGTON WASHINGTON, DC – United States Senator Ken Salazar today continued his fight to restore fiscal responsibility to Washington. Salazar voted for a bipartisan budget amendment to introduce Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO) rules for the upcoming budget process. The amendment sponsored by Senator Feinstein failed on a 50/50 vote. If passed the amendment would have restored bipartisan rules regulating spending and tax policies that led to record fiscal surpluses in the 1990s. All new spending and tax breaks would have to be paid for. The Administration could have sent the Vice-President to break the tie and reinstate the PAYGO rules, but instead they allowed the amendment to fail without a majority vote. “The federal government has gone from record surpluses to record deficits in just a few years. Washington should be subject to the same rules all Americans use for their personal checkbooks – if you buy something you have to have the money to pay for it. Instead Washington has initiated a ‘credit card-like’ mentality to spending that must stop. The mountains of debt we are piling on future generations are outrageous – initiating real PAYGO rules will end this spendthrift nonsense,” Salazar said. Salazar continued, “I am disappointed that the Administration and Congress have allowed this rubber-stamp lunacy to govern the budget process in Washington. However, I will not be deterred by this vote and continue to work hard to make sure that Washington plays by the same budget balancing rules as families in Colorado and across America.” # # #