Transcripts

"Congressional Difference of Opinion"-Rep. John Spratt, D-SC

SUSIE GHARIB: In tonight's commentary, balancing the government's budget. As we continue our "Congressional Difference of Opinion," Representative John Spratt, a Democrat of South Carolina says pay-go is the best way to go.

REP. JOHN SPRATT (D) SOUTH CAROLINA: At the start of the '90s, Congress passed a rule called pay as you go. Critics accused us of dodging the hard issues we had to face, if we were to wipe out the deficit. But by the end of the 1990s, the budget was in surplus for the first time in 30 years and it was clear that process rules like pay-go played a big part in our success. Republicans were in the majority in 2002 when the pay-go rule expired and chose not to reinstate it, knowing it would impede their tax cutting agenda. The budget plunged from a surplus of $236 billion to a deficit of $413 billion in 2004. When Democrats took back the House, pay- go was made a rule of the House on day one. Now, we take a longer stride towards budget discipline. The president proposes to make pay-go statutory. I share his support and believe that statutory pay-go will put more rigor in the budget process. We are faced with a colossal deficit, swollen largely to accommodate recovery measures we badly needed. As these pull us out of the slump, we need to focus on our longer-term fate. The long-run fiscal path, according to the Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is simply not sustainable. Statutory pay- go is effective because it restrains new entitlement spending and new tax cuts both. Both tend to be permanent, easy to pass, hard to repeal. Pay-go buffers the bottom-line, insisting on offsets and deficit neutrality. Its terms are complex, but at its core, it is a common sense rule, one everyone can understand. When you are in a hole, quit digging. I'm Congressman John Spratt.