Deborah Koff Ross: “I believe an important message was sent on election night, and that message was that the American people are ready for…”

“I believe an important message was sent on election night, and that message was that the American people are ready for us to put an end to the partisan bickering, to work together to clean up the mess and to put people's interests above special interests. That is why I am real proud that in the first 100 hours under Speaker-elect Pelosi, she has announced that in the first 100 hours we will reinstitute PAYGO rules on the floor of the United States House of Representatives. PAYGO means pay-as-you-go, and it is one of the 12 points for meaningful reform that the Blue Dog Coalition has put forth. We are very grateful that she has included it in one of her objectives to accomplish in the first 100 hours. What PAYGO means is that if you have got a new Federal program you want to fund or if you have got a tax for folks earning over $400,000 a year that you want to cut, you have got to show us where you are going to pay for it. You cannot just pass laws that cut revenue or increase spending without showing where the money is going to come from, because we know where it has been coming from. It has been coming from foreign central banks and foreign investors, as the gentleman from Georgia so eloquently pointed out. This administration and this Congress in the past 5 rac{1}{2} years have borrowed more money from foreign central banks and foreign investors than the previous 42 Presidents combined.”