In our country, both the president and Congress help prepare an annual budget for the federal government. Together they decide what we will spend our money on. It can be spent on things like defense, health care, education and many other federal programs. What the budget does is it outlines the nation's priorities for the coming year and describes how the government will reach those goals. Our budget is supposed to be less or the same as our governement earns, otherwise we have a budget deficit. In the last few decades, our government has spent more money than it has earned, making these deficits happen. Every time our country has a deficit, it needs to borrow more money, which puts us further into debt. This over spending is threatening our entitlement spending programs. An example of this is Social Security. Many of the "baby boomer" generation is starting to take more money from Social Security than is being put in, threatening its very existense. To counteract this persistent budget deficit, Congress passed a pay-as-you-go (otherwise known as paygo) budgeting measure. This basically means that Congress can only spend what they can pay for. Many supporters of paygo argue that paygo rightly responds to citizens' concerns about profligate spending and the rising national debt. Some opponents to this measure argue that paygo will merely result in higher taxes in order to pay for the new programs.I believe that paygo is a good idea. It shows and helps Congress to understand that deficits matter and should be contained. Our national debt is rising at a horrific pace. Right now it is at astaggering 12 trillion dollars. Paygo could help manage this debt, and hopefully somewhere down the road even eliminate the debt. Some critics claim that paygo will restrict Congress's ability to respond to national emergencies, such as recession. But the in those times of emergency, the government can suspend paygo if necessary. Current President Obama also agrees with paygo. He as said, "paying for what you spend is basic common sense." And he proposed making paygo a law.
Read more about Obama's stand on paygo here:
Link to Issue #1:
Link to Issue # 3:
No comments:
Post a Comment