Gretchen Hamel, executive director of Public Notice, wrote an OpEd for US News and World Reports on PAYGO (a budget rule that is meant to ensure new spending is paid for).  Among Hamel’s warnings of PAYGO’s limitations, she points out that any spending deemed an “emergency” by lawmakers exempts them from offsetting the new spending [...]

When PAYGO (a budget rule that is meant to ensure new spending is paid for) passed recently, we cautioned that it was a weak tool for fighting fiscal irresponsibility. Congress can avoid following PAYGO anytime it wants.  In a blog post and OpEd, we said that one of PAYGO’s glaring limitations was politicians’ ability to [...]

We don’t mean to be Debbie Downers.  Really.  We welcome all proposals that address America’s fiscal crisis.  However, so far nothing put forth by the Obama Administration will bring about meaningful change.  Here is a rundown that distinguishes Washington’s rhetoric from the unfortunate political reality. 10.  The proposed budget increases spending. Last year, President Obama’s [...]

Like many addicts, the government has a hard time quitting its bad habits cold turkey.  So far legislators have shown they won’t seriously curb their compulsive spending habits that have led to a fiscal crisis.  Instead they continue to pay lip service to the problem by proposing a small spending freeze, impotent pay-as-you-go rules, and [...]

President Obama recently signed legislation that would restore pay-as-you-go, or PAYGO, rules to the federal government’s budget process.  During his weekly address, he celebrated this move as a return to fiscal discipline, ignoring the fact that the legislation he signed also raised the debt limit by another $1.9 trillion.  Here’s how the President described PAYGO: [...]