Budget and Fiscal Responsibility
I am committed to ensuring accountability and transparency in our federal budget while eliminating wasteful programs and spending. As a former business owner, I know firsthand how important it is to have a budget. Our federal government is no different. Without a budget, it is impossible to plan for the future, make sound investments, and identify unnecessary and duplicative spending.
I am proud to be a member of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition, which worked to pass an effective, responsible House Budget Resolution in April 2009. This year, my colleagues and I will again evaluate the President’s budget and ensure that sufficient funding is given to the country’s most vital programs and initiatives. We must ensure that the budget addresses America’s health care, education, energy, economic, environmental, and national security needs. It is also imperative that we spend taxpayer dollars responsibly and efficiently, and that we work to avoid budget deficits that have resulted in our overwhelming national debt.
Our government cannot afford to annually spend hundreds of billions of dollars more than it brings in. Borrowing money from other nations, like China and Japan, simply creates more debt for our children and grandchildren to pay off. This is not a sustainable long-term fiscal strategy for our country. Curbing America’s nine trillion dollar national debt is one of my top priorities in Congress, which is why I fully support the pay-as-you-go principles established in the House of Representatives in early 2007.
Pay-as-you-go, or “PAYGO” budgeting, is a practice that governs mandatory spending and tax legislation. The purpose of the PAYGO rule is to ensure that neither mandatory spending nor tax legislation increases the deficit. To comply with PAYGO, new mandatory spending programs or tax cuts need to be offset by an equal amount of mandatory spending cuts, resulting in bills that are “deficit-neutral.” The term “mandatory spending” applies to spending that is not a part of the annual appropriations process. For example, it includes entitlement programs where the spending is determined by the number of people who are eligible for the program. PAYGO does not prohibit mandatory spending or tax cuts. It only ensures that these costs are paid for. Members of Congress should have to act in the same manner as our constituents; we must live within our means and we must balance our budget.
During the 1990s, PAYGO rules helped turn our deficit into a surplus. The time for Congress to put these common-sense laws back into place is long overdue. I am extremely pleased that both the Senate and House passed PAYGO rules in early 2010. President Obama signed the legislation into law on February 12, 2010. This legislation is a critical step in getting the United States on a fiscally responsible and financially sustainable track.
PAYGO can only take us so far. That is why I am a strong supporter of the Blue Dog Blueprint for Fiscal Reform. The Blueprint is a comprehensive plan for shoring up unnecessary spending, balancing our budget, and providing fiscally sustainable solutions for debt recovery. By finding solutions now, we can ensure that future generations do not have to pay the price for our mistakes.
