Roy Cooper: “I thank my friends Arkansas and Georgia. Another Blue Dog proposal for reform that is extremely important, because it…”

“I thank my friends Arkansas and Georgia. Another Blue Dog proposal for reform that is extremely important, because it would do a lot to fix our entire fiscal situation, to get our budget balanced again, and that proposal goes by the name of pay as you go. It is a very simple concept. Every household back in our districts has to follow it. Because if you don't have the money, you can't spend it. You might be able to borrow a little for a little while, but sooner or later, you have to pay the bill. That is the same principle America should be run on. It is not just us saying it. The former chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, Alan Greenspan, said that that would be the single most important reform America could undertake. The single most important reform, and we Blue Dogs are championing it. We, as Democrats, are championing it, and yet the Republican majority in this House has prevented that reform from even coming up for a vote. Now, this isn't theoretical or experimental thinking that Chairman Greenspan is proposing, this pay as you go proposal, this idea that if you want to spend more money on a program, fine, but get money from somewhere else to pay for it. Or if you want to cut taxes, fine, get money from somewhere else to pay for the tax cut. This proposal was the law of the land in America from 1990 to 2002. For 12 years, from 1990 to 2002, the pay-as-you-go proposal worked and worked well in America.…”