As I recall, there were two times in the past few years when the Congress had the opportunity to reinstate the PayGo requirement for government budgeting and spending. The refusal of the Congress to reinstate PayGo has been in large measure responsible for the ballooning Federal deficit in the last two presidential administrations.

First enacted during the administration of George H.W. Bush as part of the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990, PayGo required all increases in direct spending or revenue decreases to be offset by other spending decreases or revenue increases. These rules were in effect from 1991 until 2002 when sunset provisions in the original legislation permitted the PayGo requirement to expire. PayGo is widely seen as having assisted the US Congress in maintaining budget discipline during the administrations of George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. In 1991 the Federal deficit was 4.5% of GDP; by 2000 the Federal surplus was 2.4%. Total Federal spending as a percentage of GDP decreased each and every year from 1991 through 2000, falling from 22.3% to 18.4%. Since the expiry of PayGo, our Federal Treasury has gone from a healthy surplus to a deficit of just shy of $10 trillion dollars. To put that in perspective, since PayGo was permitted to expire the U.S. went from a balanced budget to overspending to the extent that as of now every man, woman and child in the U.S. owes $31,599.96 worth of the Federal deficit.

The other legislation that the Congress failed to enact was the proposal that earmarks be largely eliminated. Earmarks are funds provided by the Congress for projects or programs where the congressional direction circumvents the budgeting process or otherwise curtails the ability of the Executive Branch to properly manage funds. Congress includes earmarks in appropriation bills, the annual spending bills that Congress enacts to allocate discretionary spending. Current rules permit earmarks to be added to legislation after it has been passed. The number of earmarks--otherwise referred to as "pork" spending-- has more than doubled since the budgetary discipline of the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990 was permitted to expire by the Congress during the first administration of our current President.

Without the discipline of PayGo, even John McCain has described the performance of the Congress since then as "pigs at the trough". I might also point out that it has been since the expiry of PayGo that the number of lobbyists in Washington has doubled. Yes, there have always been lobbyists, but they have never had the unfettered opportunities to effect legislation in their favor that they do now.

I'm sure I could come up with other examples of failed fiscal policies by our current administration and Congress, Bucco, and yes I feel very strongly about the failure of our elected officials to govern "for the people". I intend to do all I can to change that.