Chuck Grassley: “The difference is the old version of pay-go applied it as a backstop to a budget resolution. So if a proposal spent more…”

“The difference is the old version of pay-go applied it as a backstop to a budget resolution. So if a proposal spent more than the budget permitted and added to the deficit, a pay-go point of order was possible. Likewise, if a proposal to cut taxes more than the amount of the revenue the budget assumed would come in, pay-go would apply. This year Congress is struggling because a rigid notion of pay-go has hamstrung the committees--meaning every committee of the Congress that processes revenue or spending policies. The rubber has hit the road with pay-go here, more so at the end of the session than throughout the rest of 2007, and it has been a somewhat bumpy road for all of us. Of course, I think this road is even going to get bumpier as time goes on between now and Christmas.”