February 2010
Posted by: administrator
We’ve known all along that the Obama Democrats’ PAYGO scheme was just a fig leaf to hide their embarrassing binge spending habit. But only two weeks after passing PAYGO, Democrats are starting to poke holes in their own fiscal fig leaf. The Hill’s Walter Alarkon reports,
The ink is barely dry on the pay-as-you-go law, and Democrats are seeking to bypass it to enact parts of their job-creation agenda … Democratic leaders said extensions of unemployment insurance and COBRA healthcare benefits should be emergency spending that isn’t subject to the pay-as-you-go statute, which requires new non-discretionary spending to be offset with spending cuts or tax increases.
“Emergency spending”? How can extending provisions of the first stimulus Democrats knew were going to expire be defined as “emergency spending”? After PAYGO was signed, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi claimed that “irresponsible practices will end.” But old habits die hard, and Democrats are itching to go back to their deficit-busting, binge spending spree.