| Michaud Raises Concerns about Details of President’s PAYGO Proposal |
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| Wednesday, June 10 2009 | |
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WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congressman Mike Michaud issued the following statement expressing concern over news that House leaders would advance President Obama’s bill to reinstitute statutory “pay-as-you-go” (PAYGO) measures, which are rules that require that any new mandatory government spending be matched with budget cuts or savings elsewhere. Michaud applauded President Obama for his support of the budget enforcement measures, something that he and his fellow Blue Dog Coalition Members strongly support. But he is concerned that the President’s proposal contains a number of significant exemptions to PAYGO, including the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, Medicare payments to physicians, fixing the alternative minimum tax, and adjustments to the estate and gift taxes. “PAYGO was repealed in 2002 and our country is now currently over $11 trillion dollars in debt. I am concerned that creating exemptions from the rules right off the bat for trillions of dollars worth of spending is a bad start. We need to pay for our policies or we will never get out from under this mountain of debt. “I support a stricter approach than what the President has put forward. I joined with my fellow Blue Dogs in introducing a bill that not only reinstitutes statutory PAYGO, but also implements multi-year discretionary spending caps. Combined, these two policies helped reign in deficit spending in the past. The bill that I support would also close a loophole in the current law which allows almost any spending to be designated as ‘emergency’ spending. This loophole has been used in recent years to add billions of dollars to our overall debt. “The President deserves to be commended for focusing on the need to return our country to fiscal discipline. PAYGO alone can’t get rid of our total debt, but it will help prevent its growth. The bottom line is that we must pay for what we pass in Congress and not exempt trillions in spending from that goal. It is my hope that Congress will have a chance to strengthen the President’s proposal. Combined with spending caps and entitlement reform, statutory PAYGO will help us restore some budget sanity.”
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