A report yesterday from Bureau of National Affairs (subscription required) cites several unnamed congressional sources saying the House plans to revive a statutory pay-as-you-go budget law in June. Statutory pay-go would require budgetary offsets for increases in permanent spending programs or tax cuts. Expect the measure to move through the lower house quickly, but resistance in the Senate, where lawmakers have questioned the effectiveness of the budget tool, is casting doubt on the measure's future.

In the House, it is a matter of legislative priorities. In exchange for support from Blue Dog Democrats on the FY 2010 budget, House leaders promised to have a pay-go law passed before bringing any big-ticket bills to the floor. Some Democratic lawmakers in the Senate, meanwhile, have shown reluctance to adopt a new pay-go law. Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND), chair of the Senate Budget Committee, has stressed that while he backs pay-go, he does not believe it is a substitute for tackling major issues like federal health and retirement programs or reforming the tax system. Conrad has also questioned the House's past tendency simply to adjust the baseline of the budget to slip spending increases under the limited procedural pay-go constraints currently in place. Conrad contends this sets a dangerous precedent.

While there are several ways to cheat pay-go, such as labeling spending as emergency expenditures to prevent it from counting in budget numbers, adjusting the baseline of the budget could set precedent for future congresses to balloon the budget. As Conrad contends, "If we can do that, where does it end?" Opponents of pay-go further claim that Congress has never allowed the equalizing mechanism, across-the-board spending cuts, to take place because they use budget gimmicks to circumvent the rules. Proponents, on the other hand, claim that, while Congress may cheat the system occasionally, the threat of mandatory spending cuts helps to control spending. We'll have to wait and see what June brings us.

Image by Flickr user jtyerse used under a Creative Commons license.