Ron Kind: “But what we also know around here is what does work. And what does work is pay-as-you-go budgetary rules. That was…”

“But what we also know around here is what does work. And what does work is pay-as-you-go budgetary rules. That was something that was in place during the 1990s with the support of President George H. W. Bush at the time and President Clinton at the time. And because of a strong, growing, robust economy that created 24 million jobs during that time, and along with pay-as-you-go budgeting discipline, we ended up with 4 years of budget surpluses that we were paying down the national debt rather than adding to it. And that soon was replaced by the next administration and a Republican Congress that supported two wars with no pay-fors, supported two large tax cuts with no pay-fors, and supported the largest increase in Medicare spending--the part D prescription drug bill--without a nickel of it being paid for and supported the largest increase in discretionary spending since the Great Society without paying for any of it. So when President Obama took office, he inherited--he inherited--a $1.5 trillion budget deficit. And if the people are wondering how we dig a hole like that, they need only look at bills that are on the floor today. We are talking about permanent changes to the Tax Code with no pay-fors. We can do better. I know it is hard work to do comprehensive tax reform.…”