Freshman Democrats to chairs: Follow PAYGO, get CBO scores before markups

Letter led by Rep. Sharice Davids asks House committee chairs to ensure legislation does not add to deficit

Ten moderate Democratic freshmen are sending a letter Wednesday to House committee chairs asking that their panels better adhere to the chamber’s rule for offsetting legislation that would add to the deficit.

Back in the majority for the first time in eight years, Democrats kicked off the 116th Congress by reinstating a pay-as-you-go, or PAYGO, provision in House rules. Under the provision, legislation that would increase the deficit must be offset by spending cuts or revenue increases.

(When Republicans took the majority from Democrats in 2011, they replaced PAYGO with cut-as-you-go, or CUTGO, which required deficit-increasing legislation be offset with only spending cuts, preventing the use of revenue increases as pay-fors.)

View the complete September 4 article by Lindsey McPherson on The Roll Call website here.