Congressman Dave Loebsack voted for fiscal responsibility and budget discipline today by voting for pay-as-you-go, or PAYGO. PAYGO requires Congress to budget by ensuring that all new policies are fully paid for. Congressman Loebsack is also an original co-sponsor of the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act.

“PAYGO will force the federal government to budget just like a family in Iowa – you can only spend a dollar if you save a dollar elsewhere,” said Congressman Loebsack. “In order to get our economy moving again, we must address our problems head on, and start making the tough choices that will enable us to put our fiscal house in order. It is no coincidence that this rule was in place when we moved from record deficits to record surpluses in the 1990s – and that when this rule was abandoned, we returned to record deficits that doubled the national debt.”

Congressman Loebsack is a strong supporter of fiscal discipline, and has worked on numerous fronts to restore fiscal discipline in Washington, including:

•    Working with colleagues and the President to create $6.9 billion dollars in cuts to discretionary spending, cutting 24 programs in 2009.
•    Helping craft the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, which reforms the system of federal student loans to save taxpayers $87 billion.
•    Working as a freshman to restore PAYGO to House rules in 2007.

The bipartisan PAYGO law that was in place in the 1990s helped turn massive deficits into record surpluses. By requiring Congress to pay for all tax cuts and new or increased entitlement programs with savings elsewhere in the budget, fiscal discipline and responsibility will once again play a larger role in governing. The PAYGO legislation now goes to President Obama for his signature.