Pelosi’s PAYGO Ploy: Budgetary Gimmick Provides Cover for Liberals
Rob Bluey /
Four years after Democrats campaigned on the promise of using pay-as-you-go budgeting, their record is dismal. Since gaining control of Congress in 2007, they’ve gamed, ignored or employed PAYGO on 32 occasions to justify new spending or tax increases.
Once hailed as a budgetary tool to stop deficit spending, PAYGO has become a gimmick House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.) has used repeatedly to provide cover to her liberal allies.
“Democrats are committed to fiscal responsibility through pay-as-you-go budgets, so that our children and grandchildren are not saddled with mountains of debt,” Pelosi pledged in 2007.
Pelosi’s rhetoric doesn’t match reality. In fact, since Democrats took office in 2007, the deficit has spiked to $1.5 trillion, up from $160 billion four years ago. That’s nearly a 10-fold increase—and it happened with the PAYGO rule in place.