Failure Of Pay/Go Rules Shows 'Larger Lesson' In 2008 Tax, Spending Debates, WSJ Writes

Main Category: Public Health
Also Included In: Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP
Article Date: 11 Dec 2007 - 11:00 PDT

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The Wall Street Journal in an editorial on Monday writes that it is "delighted" that Democrats "renounced their ballyhooed budget pledge" to follow pay/go rules, adding that "there's a larger lesson in this failure for the tax and spending battles of 2008." The editorial states that pay/go "shouldn't be allowed to expire without everyone kicking sand on its grave" because "it has been nothing but a confidence game from the very start," in which its "main goals are to make tax cutting all but impossible, while letting Democrats pretend to favor 'fiscal discipline.'" According to the editorial, "Pay/go doesn't apply to domestic discretionary spending, and it doesn't restrain spending increases under current law in entitlements like Medicare and Medicaid."

The Journal writes that the pay/go "farce has been unfolding all year" and since "the day they took the gavel, Democrats have been using gimmick after gimmick to evade it," such as a "spending 'cliff' included in SCHIP legislation that disguises" the bill's actual cost. The editorial states that the "larger relevance of this episode concerns the 2008 campaign," and President Bush, "and especially the GOP presidential candidates, should be using this pay/go collapse to explain to Americans what a charade" Democratic claims of fiscal discipline are. The editorial concludes, "Now's the time to bury pay/go for good" (Wall Street Journal, 12/10).

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