Amendment 3358 –– Requires the Senate to be truthful with taxpayers about its out of control spending and post on its website the total spending approved this year that adds to our deficit and was not paid for by a reduction in spending elsewhere.

On February 12, 2010, President Obama signed into law the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010. The basic principle of PAYGO is any new spending or tax relief should be offset with equal reductions in spending or increases in taxes in order to not increase the deficit. In less than two weeks, the Senate has spent $22 billion, which was not paid for, violating the spirit of PAYGO.

This amendment would expose PAYGO gimmicks and encourage transparency and accountability in Senate spending by requiring the Secretary of the Senate to post on its website the following: 

• The total amount of spending, both discretionary and mandatory, passed by the Senate that has not been paid for; 
• The total amount of spending authorized in legislation passed by the Senate, as scored by CBO; and 
• The number of new government programs created in legislation passed by the Senate.

The Tax Extenders Act Increases Our Deficit At Least $97 Billion Over The Next Ten Years

The tax extenders bill (H.R. 4213) being considered in the Senate this week will add $97 billion to the deficit through provisions designated as “emergency spending” or exempted from the original PAYGO statue, such as the doc fix.

This legislation allows the Majority to avoid the PAYGO requirements to pay for these expensive provisions. In addition, the original PAYGO law exempted certain spending from the pay for requirement. Specifically, the doc fix provision, which CBO estimates to cost $7.3 billion over ten years.

On March 3, 2010, the Senate voted 60-37 to waive PAYGO, and add nearly $100 billion to the deficit over the next ten years. The Senate has now ignored PAYGO three times in less than three weeks.


The Senate Has Added Over $22 Billion To Our Deficit In 18 Days Since PAYGO Became Law

Twelve days after the President signed PAYGO into law the Senate voted to waive PAYGO against the so-called “jobs” bill. According to Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the legislation will increase the deficit by $12 billion over the next five years.

Additionally, on March 2, 2010, the Senate failed to comply with PAYGO when it approved the Short-Term Extension Bill (H.R. 4691). According to CBO, this legislation added $10.26 billion to our deficit over the next 10 years. Once again, the Senate did not pay for this new spending and in fact rejected an attempt by one Senator to pay for the $10 billion in new spending.

As a result of only these two bills, the Senate has increased the deficit by over $22 billion in just 18 days, clearly violating the promises to pay for all new spending and not add a dime to our growing deficit.


The Senate Plans To Charge Nearly $120 Billion To Our Deficit In Just Three Weeks

If the Tax Extenders Act of 2009 passes this Friday the Senate will have violated PAYGO three times in three weeks increasing the deficit by more than $119 billion. Therefore, the Senate will have added on average $5.6 billion to our deficit every day since the President signed PAYGO into law on February 12, 2010.

The Senate deceived the public by passing a pay-as-you-go law with the claim they will offset what they spend, only to later ignore their self imposed debt control mechanism when it approved unpaid for legislation. For example, on January 28, 2010, the Senate Majority Leader stated, “In order to spend a dollar, we have to have that dollar in our wallet. This law will enforce that commonsense approach.”


This Amendment Brings Transparency To How The Senate Adds Billions Of Dollars To Our Deficit

This amendment would expose this PAYGO gimmick and encourage transparency in Senate spending by requiring the Secretary of the Senate to post on its website the following:

• The total amount of spending, both discretionary and mandatory, passed by the Senate that has not been paid for.
• The total amount of spending authorized in legislation passed by the Senate, as scored by CBO; and
• The number of new government programs created in legislation passed by the Senate. For example, the Tax Extenders Act contains several new programs, including:
  • $150 million for a new grant program to states for specialty crop producers (maximum grant to a state is $40 million);and
  • $25 million for an aquaculture grant program.

If the Senate creates these new federal programs, it must offset the cost by eliminating wasteful spending elsewhere in the federal government.


Excessive Borrowing and Spending Threatens The Financial Stability of Medicare, Social Security, And The Nation Itself

Just over a year ago in January 2009, the national debt was $10.6 trillion.

Today, the national debt is $12.37 trillion, more than $40,000 per citizen.

The federal government is now borrowing 43 cents for every dollar it spends.

The U.S. national debt increased more than $4 billion every day in the past year.

Of the $9 trillion in debt the government is likely to accrue over the next ten years, $4.8 trillion will be interest.

This is $4.8 trillion that could be better spent on national defense or returned to taxpayers to pay for health care, education, and other necessities.

Instead, families will be forced to pay higher taxes to pay off Congress’ out of control spending excesses and future generations of Americans will experience a lower standard of living as a result.

The excessive debt does not only threaten the future of younger Americans, but also threatens the retirement security of older Americans.

Retirement programs like Medicare and Social Security are on the verge of bankruptcy.

Medicare is expected to run out of money and become insolvent in 2017.

Social Security will permanently start running a deficit in 2016, and will no longer be able to pay retirees full benefits by 2037.

Other important government programs Americans rely on nearly every day, such as the Highway Trust Fund and the U.S. Postal Service, are also spending more than they are bringing in with revenues.


The Family Budget Gets Smaller While the Government Budget Gets Bigger

The economy is struggling. Unemployment remains at 9.7 percent and family incomes fell by more than three percent last year.

Yet, while inflation is near zero, Washington spending continues to increase dramatically. In just the last year, the national debt increased 15 percent.

While most of the country faces tough financial times and tax revenues have declined, Congress continues to approve double-digit spending increases for bloated federal agencies wrought with duplication, waste, abuse, and mismanagement of taxpayer funding.

Congress gave itself a 5.8 percent ($245 million) raise, far outpacing the negative growth in family budgets. While individuals across the country are worried they might lose their job, members of Congress are focused on trying to keep their jobs by earmarking more than $11 billion for pork projects.

Since January of 2009, while Americans across the country adjusted their spending to the size of the shrinking family budget, Congress has passed trillions of dollars in new spending, on everything from a multi-billion dollar omnibus lands package that increases the size and cost of federal land property ownership to a nearly $1 trillion stimulus bill that has failed to create new jobs to a $2.5 trillion health care bill that penalizes Americans who cannot afford health insurance.

This massive spending has done nothing to put Americans back to work, but rather added to the debt that working Americans will be forced to eventually repay at the expense of their own family budget.

Click here to read the Coburn PAYGO Amendment.
Click here for the background PDF.