"In addition to a renewed focus on the Constitution, House Republicans are instituting additional rules to rein in spending. The Wall Street Journal reports that House Republicans are replacing the Democrats' "Pay As You Go" rule, which became a convenient excuse to raise taxes, with a "Cut As You Go" rule. Under this new rule, increases in mandatory spending will require spending cuts in other areas of the budget.
Another rules change creates so-called "spending reduction accounts." One of the problems with the debate over earmarks is that if Congress votes to end an earmark, the money isn't returned to the Treasury. If members of Congress don't earmark funds for specific projects, then Obama Administration bureaucrats are free to spend federal dollars however they want.
With "spending reduction accounts," money from an earmark or any other program that is voted down would be put into a "spending reduction account" so the bureaucrats can't spend it. The idea is similar to a savings account. Let's say you save $100 on groceries this month. Rather than spending that $100 on clothes or eating out, you put it into your savings account. Believe it or not, that's a really novel concept in Washington!
For too long members of Congress have been accustomed to using Uncle Sam's credit card for every desire. These small, but important steps will hopefully recondition their thinking about how they spend your money, laying the foundation for more fundamental reforms to come."
Gary Bauer
Campaign for Working Families
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