Pay-go passes, pleasing Herseth Sandlin

The U.S. House of Representatives on voted to adopt pay-as-you-go spending, an act that Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin said has been “nothing short of a battle” to get accomplished.

Herseth Sandlin, D-S.D., said Thursday was a “proud day” and noted to reporters during a morning conference call that adopting a pay-as-you-go approach has been one of her priorities since she was first voted into Congress in 2004.

“You’ve all heard me discuss it many times,” Herseth Sandlin said. “Today represents an enormous victory for anyone who cares about our country’s fiscal future.”

Known throughout Congress as “pay-go,” the bill requires Congress to spend within its means. It will next head to President Barack Obama, who is expected to sign it into law. Pay-go was last in effect in the 1990s and, according to Herseth Sandlin, forced budget discipline and produced a balanced budget.

Thursday’s vote was 233-187, with no Republicans voting in favor of the bill.

Also Thursday, the House voted to approve a bill that will allow the government to go deeper in debt by as much as $1.9 trillion.

The Associated Press reported that President Obama will sign the bill to avoid a default on U.S. loan obligations.

During a conference call with reporters Thursday, Herseth Sandlin said pay-go traditionally has been a bipartisan program. Calling it a “common-sense” rule, she noted that pay-go was created in 1990 by a Republican president and a Democrat-controlled Congress and was extended in 1997 by a Democrat president and a Republican-controlled Congress.

But “under the previous administration, these rules were allowed to lapse and with no mechanism for restraint, the deficit exploded,” Herseth Sandlin said. “Since that time, the Blue Dogs (a Democratic organization within Congress) have been sounding the alarm … on the importance of getting pay-go back on the books.”

Herseth Sandlin said spending needs to be reined in, not only because of the debt that is being incurred, but also because it creates a “serious national security risk.”

Pay-go, she said, “will force us to rein in spending so that ultimately we don’t have to rely on China to bankroll our priorities.”

President Obama said paygo will “usher out an era of irresponsibility.”

Herseth Sandlin’s office sent a statement from the president to the media Thursday afternoon.

“Statutory pay-go would hold us to a simple but bedrock principle: Congress can only spend a dollar if it saves a dollar elsewhere,” Obama said.

“Mandatory spending increases and tax cuts must be paid for; they’re not free, and borrowing to finance them is not a sustainable longterm policy.”

Herseth Sandlin, while putting her full support behind pay-go, also on Thursday said she was in favor of the bill that increases the nation’s debt by approximately $6,000 per U.S. resident.

During her conference call Thursday morning, she defended her stance.

“It’s up to the party in power, I guess, to make sure the United States doesn’t default on its debt and that we pay our bills. … It’s the responsible thing to do, even though it’s not a popular vote.”

Tags: stephanie herseth sandlin, pay-go bill, news, national