ATR and CFA Will Rate House Vote Against Debt Ceiling Hike and PAYGO

The U.S. House of Representatives is set to vote today on yet another hike in the debt ceiling, a hike of a staggering $1.9 trillion.  While this alone is outrageous, the amendments sent over from the Senate, which passed the hike at the end of last month, come coupled with the PAYGO scheme - a fig leaf for tax-and-spend policies.  And yet, under the budget proposed by President Obama, even with this massive debt ceiling hike, Congress will still have to take up another debt limit increase by October of next year.

ATR and CFA have notified Members of the U.S. House of Representatives that we will rate a vote against the debt ceiling hike coupled with PAYGO in our annual Congressional ratings. From our vote alert:

Taxpayers across the country are dealing with lower bottom lines and smaller paychecks. They do not have the option of expanding their household budgets to support irresponsible spending with careless abandon. Congress should hold itself to the same standards, and rein in wasteful spending, rather than seeking the easy way out by raising the debt ceiling yet again.

The concept of PAYGO may be rhetorically appealing - after all, the concept of paying for something ‘as you go’ sounds like a common sense idea. Ultimately, however, this type statutory PAYGO is nothing more than a fig leaf to provide political cover for tax-and-spend policies, and would in fact set the stage for higher taxes being touted as the only way to avoid across-the-board cuts in entitlement spending.

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