As early as Tuesday the Senate is expected to vote on Dr. Coburn’s amendment that would require the Senate to be truthful about how it is violating the spirit of PAYGO.

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.

Click here to view NTU letter.

Click here to view CAGW letter.

Click here to view the Center for Fiscal Accountability letter.

Click here to view the ACU letter.