Jack & Jill Politics

This week, President Obama announced the signing into law of “Pay As You Go.” The law is designed to help lower the budget deficit by forcing Congress to come up with financial cuts to offset government spending. “Pay As You Go” was signed into law as part of a piece of legislation that raised the debt limit to $14.3 trillion dollars.

The President has offered “Pay As You Go” as well as a proposed three-year spending freeze (not affecting national security, medicare, medicaid, or social security) and a proposed bipartisan fiscal commission, as steps towards reclaiming fiscal responsibility and reducing the federal deficit in the near and long-term future.

Still, President Obama made note that some legislators have backed away from commitments to form a fiscal commission in recent weeks:

“Unfortunately this proposal — which received the support of a bipartisan majority in the Senate — was recently blocked. So, I will be creating this commission by executive order. After decades of profligacy, the American people are tired of politicians who talk the talk but don’t walk the walk when it comes to fiscal responsibility. It’s easy to get up in front of the cameras and rant against exploding deficits. What’s hard is actually getting deficits under control. But that’s what we must do. Like families across the country, we have to take responsibility for every dollar we spend. And with the return of “pay as you go,” as well as other steps we’ve begun to take, that is exactly what we are doing.”