Carson Votes to Restore Fiscal Discipline
February 4, 2010
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February 4, 2010
Washington, DC - Congressman André Carson today took a critical step toward restoring our nation's fiscal health by voting for pay-as-you-go legislation (PAYGO). Today's vote clears the way for the PAYGO bill to land on the desk of President Obama, who plans to sign it into law.
PAYGO requires Congress to pay for all tax cuts and new or increased entitlement programs with savings elsewhere in the budget. Similar budgeting rules helped the nation rise from deficits to record surpluses in the 1990s before PAYGO was allowed to expire under the Bush Administration.
"A recent New York Times analysis found that 90 percent of our deficit is due to fiscal policies under the previous administration," Carson said. "But no matter how we got into this mess, the American people deserve leadership from this Congress to get Washington's fiscal house in order.
"The PAYGO bill passed today is a critical part of Democratic efforts to restore fiscal responsibility. It's based upon the bipartisan PAYGO law that was in place in the 1990s, which helped turn massive deficits into record surpluses. When PAYGO expired under President Bush in 2002, we saw a dramatic downturn—from surpluses of $5.6 trillion to projected deficits of more than $11 trillion.
"To rebuild our economy for the long term, we must create jobs and address our deficit head-on. We've had success in doing both under President Clinton utilizing PAYGO—and our economy thrived. I know we can do it again under President Obama."
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