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Feingold PAYGO Amendment Included In Senate
Budget Resolution May 15, 2004 Boscobel, WI – U.S. Senator Russ Feingold today discussed the amendment he successfully offered to the Senate version of the budget resolution aimed at bringing back fiscal discipline to the budgeting process. Feingold’s pay-as-you go (PAYGO) amendment forces Congress to find offsets to pay for new tax cuts or new spending on entitlement programs. Under Feingold’s amendment, if offsets for spending are not included, proposals would be subject to a budget point of order. In the Senate, that would mean such increases in spending would need a 60 vote majority for them to be included in the budget resolution. “What my amendment simply does is brings us back to the fiscally disciplined budgeting we became accustomed to in the 1990s,” Feingold said. “Over the last few years, our government has not been a responsible protector of the taxpayer dollar. My amendment is a first step toward stopping the deficit spending that has taken over. Without tough budget rules to hold policy makers' feet to the fire, there is little hope that the White House and Congress will ever make the tough decisions needed to eliminate the deficit.” Feingold’s amendment strengthens budget discipline. If new tax cuts or new mandatory spending are not offset, then they ought to be only the most worthy of policies - policies that can achieve the 60 votes needed to pass. “Getting tough budget rules in place is the only way to get us out of the current deficit mess,” Feingold said. “I will continue to fight for budget rules to eliminate in federal budget deficits. This is a bipartisan fight that we must win if we are to spare our children from a massive financial burden.” Feingold held his 58th Listening Session of 2004, and his 850th since he was first elected, at the Boscobel High School, starting at 10:45 a.m. This is Feingold’s twelfth year of holding Listening Sessions in every county. |
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