Jayapal introduces bill to repeal Pay-go – By Tal Axelrod (thehill.com) / Jan 4 2019
Co-chair of the House Progressive Caucus Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) introduced a bill Friday to repeal pay-as-you-go budgetary rules, a stipulation unpopular among progressives that requires that legislation be deficit neutral.
https://twitter.com/RepJayapal/status/1081322985414447107
“I have long been concerned about PAYGO and its legislative implications,” Jayapal said in a statement. “Taking it out of the rules package does not address the real problem which is that it is a statutory requirement. That’s why today I am introducing legislation to repeal PAYGO and hold hearings immediately on why PAYGO is bad policy and bad for millions of working Americans who deserve a bold, visionary progressive agenda.”
Pay-go, which requires that any added cost of legislation be offset with new revenue or cuts elsewhere, was thrust into the spotlight after progressives criticized its inclusion in the recently-passed rules package in the House of Representatives.
Her bill seeks to repeal The Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, which extends the budgetary stipulation to all new legislation, rather than the pay-go aspect of the rules package. The Senate also has its own version of pay-go.
Progressive Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) voted against the House package because of the budgetary rule, claiming it would make it easier to cut funding for legislative priorities.
Ocasio-Cortez tweeted that pay-go was “a dark political maneuver designed to hamstring progress on healthcare+other” legislation.
Tomorrow I will also vote No on the rules package, which is trying to slip in #PAYGO.
PAYGO isn’t only bad economics, as @RoKhanna explains; it’s also a dark political maneuver designed to hamstring progress on healthcare+other leg.
We shouldn’t hinder ourselves from the start. https://t.co/WW3UaBs7vh
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 2, 2019
However, Reps. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) and Jayapal, the co-chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, voted for the rules after getting assurances from House Democratic leaders and incoming Rules Committee Chairman Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) that the pay-go rule can be waived.
Jayapal declared her intention to introduce legislation to fully repeal pay-go when she announced her vote for the rules package this week.
Khanna and Ocasio-Cortez are both co-sponsors on Jayapal’s bill.
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/423972-jayapal-introduces-bill-to-repeal-pay-go
