Concord Coalition: JOINT STATEMENT ON THE NEED FOR PAY-AS-YOU-GO DISCIPLINE

[Roland99]

The Concord Coalition (one of whose members is David Walker, Comptroller of the US) has released the following re: budget priorities:

http://www.concordcoalition.org/issues/fedbudget/doc/070321-4cs-paygo-statement.pdf?emc=intellicontact&m=3595404&v=1020029208&l=1

The four organizations joining in this statement have warned that
large, chronic budget deficits pose a threat to the economic health of our
nation. For that reason, we strongly support current efforts to reestablish
and comply with pay-as-you-go discipline in the Congressional budget
process, which would establish hurdles that make it more difficult to
enact fiscally irresponsible policies. This week the Senate is considering
a budget resolution that would reinstate a pay-as-you-go rule in the
Senate that would require any expansion in mandatory programs or any
tax cut — including initiatives assumed in reserve funds — to be paid
for with reductions in other mandatory spending or increases in other
taxes. Next week the House — which adopted a pay-as-you-go rule in
January — will consider a budget resolution that also assumes all
proposed initiatives will be paid for as required by the pay-as-you-go
rule. We urge support for these measures and opposition to efforts to
amend the resolutions and undermine pay-as-you-go by allowing certain
initiatives — popular program expansions or tax cuts — to be enacted
without being offset.

At a time when fiscal policies should be focused on reducing
deficits in recognition of the enormous strains that the retirement of the
baby-boom generation will soon place on federal resources, failure to
offset new initiatives on a pay-as-you-go basis would send a dangerous
signal that fiscal discipline in Washington has all but disappeared. At
the very least, lawmakers need to stop digging the hole deeper.
Our organizations have maintained consistently that the President
and the Congress should reestablish the pay-as-you-go rule — applying
to all tax cuts and all mandatory spending increases — to require
lawmakers to consider the tradeoffs inherent in the enactment of costly
new legislation. In light of the great fiscal challenges facing the nation
in the long term, this pay-as-you-go principle should take into account
the impact of legislation on revenues and spending in years beyond the
current budget window. While much more needs to be done to improve
the long-term fiscal outlook, establishment of a rule making it harder to
enact legislation further worsening the situation would represent an
important first step in the impending struggle to restore fiscal
responsibility.

Much more at the link.

The Concord Coalition is currently also on its Fiscal Wake-Up Tour:
http://www.concordcoalition.org/events/fiscal-wake-up/index.html

Panelists:

David Walker, Comptroller General of the United States
Robert Bixby, Executive Director of The Concord Coalition
Isabel V. Sawhill, The Brookings Institution
Alison Fraser, The Heritage Foundation
John L. Palmer, Public Trustee of Medicare and Social Security Programs

[Roland99]

1. A little kick for the morning.

[Joe Bacon]

2. Red Ink Republicans don't care cause Je$u$ gonna rapture them!

My jaw still drops remembering the Dobson statement that 90% of Republic members of the last Congress believe that Je$u$ was going to rapture them in a year or 2...

Well, a bunch of them DID get the Rapture in a way they were too stupid to see coming!