 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
Currently, the U.S. Debt is estimated at: Your share of today's public debt is: $39,007.34 |
|
|
Fiscal Discipline
As a longtime member and current leader of the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of fiscally conservative Democratic budget hawks, I am an ardent advocate of employing fiscal discipline in our federal budget. Hoosier families have to live within a budget, and so too should Congress.
The first step to returning to fiscal discipline was the reimplementation of pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) spending rules in the House. This occurred shortly after the convening of both the 110th and 111th Congresses. These rules simply mean that the federal government cannot spend money on credit anymore. In order to spend money, we must be able to pay for it.
I have introduced a bill to strengthen these rules by making them law. H.R. 2116 would reinstate statutory PAYGO rules and implement multi-year discretionary spending caps. Unlike the current rules, statutory PAYGO would have the force of law behind it. Thus, any new or increased federal spending would have to be offset.
Taken together, PAYGO and spending caps were instrumental in producing the budget surpluses we enjoyed in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
