Mike Thompson: “I am sad to stand on this floor today and say that this amendment was stopped. It was stopped by the majority on that…”

“I am sad to stand on this floor today and say that this amendment was stopped. It was stopped by the majority on that Committee on Rules from being able to be part of this final resolve to this issue today. PAYGO was a provision in the original Budget Enforcement Act which this House allowed to expire in 2002. Prior to that time, not only were we forced to operate within the caps imposed on our discretionary spending; we had to offset all legislation that had the effect of increasing spending or reducing revenue. Put plainly, we had to pay for our bills as we passed our bills. Since the expiration of the Budget Enforcement Act provisions, PAYGO included, this Congress has not been operating with anywhere near the same level of fiscal responsibility. Deficits are growing. They are growing in size, they are growing as a percentage of our gross domestic product and, most important, they are growing unchecked because we have allowed provisions such as PAYGO to expire.”