Ryan's World: PAYGO a "Dangerous Fiscal Course"
by Dana Chasin, 10/5/2007
NEWS ITEM: 8. Which political party, the (Democrats) or the (Republicans), do you trust to do a better job handling The federal budget deficit? Democrats: 52; Republicans: 29. [This Washington Post-ABC News poll was conducted by telephone September 27-30, 2007, among a random national sample of 1,114 adults.]
The world is topsy-turvy. The party of tax-and-spend now polls better among Americans than the party of the budget barber (cut-cut-cut!) on the issue of fiscal responsibility. House Budget Committee ranking member Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) [inadvertedly] sheds light on why Americans have diminishing trust in his party's ability to control deficits:
Technically speaking, [Democrats] may be coming to the floor with pay-go compliant bills, but under any reasonable read of these bills they are eviscerating the spirit of their pay-go rules and they are putting us on much more dangerous fiscal course... It's dangerous to this country and it's dangerous to our fiscal security to lull people into thinking they're actually being fiscally prudent and conservative when they're doing the opposite. [Citing sunsets and SCHIP as an examples,] Congress is going to be facing a situation in 2012, where in June five million children will lose all their health insurance. Congress will extend that. That's $41 billion out the door right there.
So in 2001 and 2003, Mr. Ryan, you voted to send $2 trillion right out the door, not stopping for a minute to think about how you'd pay for it? Whose world is topsy-turvy?
