To: Bread Upon The Water who wrote (107912 ) 1/23/2012 12:06:19 AM From: mel221 Read Replies (1) | Respond to Thanks for pointing that out. The PayGo rule was implemented in 1990 (probably as part of Bush's tax increase). The budget was balanced by Republicans in Congress (Gingrich) and Clinton in the late 1990s. en.wikipedia.org The PAYGO system was reestablished as a standing rule of the House of Representatives (Clause 10 of Rule XXI) on January 4, 2007 by the Democrat-controlled 110th Congress: [10] [11] [12] It shall not be in order to consider any bill, joint resolution, amendment, or conference report if the provisions of such measure affecting direct spending and revenues have the net effect of increasing the deficit or reducing the surplus for either the period comprising the current fiscal year and the five fiscal years beginning with the fiscal year that ends in the following calendar year or the period comprising the current fiscal year and the ten fiscal years beginning with the fiscal year that ends in the following calendar year. [13] Less than one year later though, facing widespread demand to ease looming tax burdens caused by the Alternative Minimum Tax , Congress abandoned its pay-go pledge. [14] Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 which included revenue reducing provisions and increases in spending that increased the deficit, which paygo was designed to prevent. It was again waived in May 2008, upon the consideration of the 2007 U.S. Farm Bill by the House of Representatives. In this last bill, the advocates of the measure claimed that it was in compliance. However, the Rules Committee issued a report indicating at least a technical violation: "While there is a technical violation of clause 10 of rule XXI [paygo], the conference report complies with the rule by remaining budget neutral with no net increase in direct spending." [15] At the beginning of the 111th Congress, PAYGO was modified by including an "emergency" exemption. This designation was provided for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (H.R. 1), which increased the deficit and increased the public debt limit to $12,104,000,000,000. [16] [17] The paygo point of order does not apply to "direct spending" if it is incorporated into an annual or supplemental appropriations spending bill. [18] [19] On February 12, 2010, Obama signed statutory PAYGO rules into law. [20]
