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Thank you M. Speaker.

M. Speaker, the House will be taking up H.R. 2920 this week, the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2009, otherwise known as PAYGO.

This bill, sponsored by the Majority Leader, the gentleman from Maryland, will renew our commitment to fiscal responsibility and protect core democratic values.

As the President said less than two months ago: “The ‘pay as you go’ rule is very simple.”  Congress can only spend a dollar in one place if it saves a dollar in another.  Just as families cut back on eating out at a restaurant to pay for a new amenity, so too must Congress make difficult balancing decisions.  In fact, this rule was put in place when the country saw record deficits turn into record surpluses in the 1990s.  It is no surprise to learn, then, that when this rule was abandoned, we returned to record deficits that in turn doubled the national debt.

PAYGO legislation will reestablish this requirement that turned deficits into surpluses under the Clinton Administration.  It is also critically important to pass PAYGO to ensure our fiscal health and stability as Congress considers health care reform legislation.  We must be able to pay for this reform without unduly burdening American taxpayers.

To understand this critically important PAYGO legislation, and the record deficits the country is facing, we must understand how we got here.  Then we must begin to move towards a more balanced budget which will instill an era of fiscal responsibility that will move us towards a stronger long term fiscal position.  PAYGO is an important and critical piece of legislation in this process.

First – a number of factors have brought us to this cash-strapped position.  Under the Bush Administration, the PAYGO principle was abandoned, reckless tax cuts for the wealthy were passed and two wars were funded outside of the budget process.   On top of that, our economy has seen one of the most severe recessions since the Great Depression.  Congressional efforts to get the economy moving again have proven to be fairly effective thus far, but they have come at a price.

Understanding these problems, and the long term fiscal constraints, what does the PAYGO legislation do?   It will require that all new policies reducing revenues or expanding entitlement spending enacted during  a session of Congress be offset over five and ten years.  As Congress did in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, PAYGO will include an exemption for legislation designated as an emergency.

PAYGO will require any future extension of upper income tax cuts to be offset as well as force a serious examination of wasteful subsidies in the budget and tax loopholes that can be eliminated to offset more worthwhile programs.  This means that PAYGO will force advocates of tax cuts to acknowledge the costs and show how they would be paid for as well as ensuring that we can afford to fund America’s most important priorities consistently for future generations.

Certain exemptions on discretionary programs funded in the appropriations process will be granted under PAYGO.  These programs are the low income home energy assistance program, Head Start, Pell grants, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children and housing assistance.

PAYGO will also establish an enforcement mechanism in non-exempt mandatory programs at the end of the year if Congress has not already paid for the costs of all legislation enacted during the year.

M. Speaker, this legislation, H.R. 2920 is a priority for the President.  He understands, as do we, that we must balance short-term deficit spending for economic recovery with a commitment to restoring fiscal discipline in the long-term.  The large deficits that we inherited as a result of the reckless borrow-and-spend policies of the previous administration have put pressure on funding for important priorities such as health care, education and clean energy jobs.   We must ensure that regardless of who is in power, PAYGO will be a powerful impediment to reckless tax cuts financed by debt.

M. Speaker, the people of this country elect us to come to Washington, D.C. to represent them in the best way that we can.  After years of unrestrained spending, budget gimmicks and rampant waste, fraud and abuse in federal spending, it’s clear we cannot continue along the same fiscal path.  We are in a deep fiscal hole. However, with the right tools –including statutory PAYGO budgeting – we can reverse this dangerous trend and begin to put the country back on a fiscally sustainable path.  M. Speaker, that is why support H.R. 2920 and encourage my colleagues to do the same.

I yield back the balance of my time. 

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