Issue 2: Spending What We Can Afford

With an overwhelming deficit, and a national debt in the trillions, it's safe to say we are having some issues with money. To attempt and fix the deficit problem, Congress in 2007 passed pay-as-you-go budgeting a.k.a. paygo. The program rules are, if increasing spending in one area, such as entitlement spending (spending on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid), occurs, then decreased spending in another area must also occur. This way Congress would not be adding to the deficit. Supports say paygo shows that Congress knows deficits are bad, and that steps need to be taken to fix them. They also say it responds to concerns of citizens by trying to correct the deficit and national debt. They say with paygo, Congress will be holding families and businesses to rules most already follow; spend only what you can pay for. However, opponents say that paygo will only increase taxes and have extreme budget cuts. They say the deficit should only be fixed by economic growth. They also think that paygo will limit Congress' ability to react in emergencies and it will anger voters.
Deficit           National debt        

We are told in every history class we take, that in the class we are not going to simply learn about history, but that we are going to learn from history. Congresswoman Kathy Dahlkemper relates learning from history quite well to the paygo program. She said, "Paygo was one of the primary reasons the federal government had budget surpluses in the 1990s." She also refers to in 2002 when Congress expired the paygo rules, the projected $5.6 trillion surplus was turned to a deficit twice that amount. The examples and success stories of paygo are written more than once, plain as day in our history. Now, just like we hear from every history class teacher, Americans need to hear that we need to learn from history and take the necessary steps to turn our deficit and national debt into surpluses, and we can trust paygo to help us reach that goal.
Kathy Dahlkemper

Issue #1- War Dollars
Issue #3- Social Insecurity