Bennet Backs PayGo Rules Shortly After Supporting Trillion Dollar Spending Bill

Wednesday, 10 June 2009 16:58

WASHINGTON – Less than four months after voting for a bloated “stimulus” bill with a massive $787 billion price tag, U.S. Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO) this week hypocritically announced his support of President Obama’s proposed “pay as you go” rules for Congress.

Known as “PayGo,” the proposal would require any new entitlement spending or tax cut to be offset by spending restrictions or higher taxes, and is often used as a talking point for members of Congress to raise taxes, as noted by the Heritage Foundation.

On Tuesday, Bennet’s office stated, “It is time to restore the principle that Congress will pay for any new program it creates” and added that new government spending "should be balanced out in a way that doesn't add to the federal deficit."

Unfortunately for Colorado taxpayers, Bennet’s newfound sense of fiscal responsibility was remarkably absent during the debate over the stimulus bill in February, when he voted for a nearly trillion dollar spending bill without any simultaneous reductions in spending elsewhere.

“Senator Bennet’s supposed commitment toward fiscal responsibility is 141 days and nearly one trillion dollars too late,” said National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) spokeswoman Amber Wilkerson. “While Bennet’s new rhetoric may sound appealing to hardworking Colorado taxpayers, the reality is he recently supported a ‘stimulus’ bill that flies in the face of any pay-as-you-go rules, and will ultimately fall on the shoulders of our children and grandchildren. Claiming to support PayGo principles less than four months after backing a bill that costs taxpayers $95 million each day in interest alone smacks of the doublespeak so often associated with Washington politicians.”

Michael Bennet Voted In Favor Of The Democrats’ Massive Stimulus Bill. (H.R. 1, CQ Vote #64: Adopted (thus cleared for the president) 60-38: R 3-38; D 55-0; I 2-0, 2/13/09, Bennet Voted Yea)

San Francisco Chronicle: “Fine, Except The New $825 Billion Stimulus Package Goes Around Pay-As-You-Go Rules.” “About an hour after the inauguration, I went to the new whitehouse.gov Web site. Obama's five-point plan to restore fiscal discipline starts with items that already are history - the bad way. Reinstate PAYGO rules. Fine, except the new $825 billion stimulus package goes around pay-as-you-go rules. And while the PAYGO rules remain, they're so bendable that Congress bypassed PAYGO for the $810 billion bailout, the Alternative Minimum Tax tweak, the energy bill, the pork-fest farm bill and more.” (“Obama’s Era Of Responsibility,” San Francisco Chronicle, 1/22/09)

The Wall Street Journal: “…Paygo Has Been A Farce From The Get-Go, Tossed Aside When Convenient This Year And Last.” (Editorial, “Political War Games,” The Wall Street Journal, 5/16/08)

Roll Call: “Last Year, Democrats Forced Through An Alternative Minimum Tax Relief Package Without Offsets Over The Objections Of Blue Dogs, And This Year, They Passed A Massive Bipartisan Stimulus Package Without Offsets As Well.” (“Blue Dogs Face $52B Test,” Roll Call, 5/12/08)