Sanders worries pay-go rules could complicate climate change action

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said he is “concerned” about a budgetary rule known as pay-as-you-go that was included in House Democrats’ newly released rules package, saying it could complicate action on climate change.

“At a time when climate change threatens our planet, when our infrastructure is crumbling, when 30 million people have no health insurance, I’m concerned that the concept of PAYGO will make it harder for Congress to address the many crises facing our working families,” he tweeted Wednesday. 

At a time when climate change threatens our planet, when our infrastructure is crumbling, when 30 million people have no health insurance, I’m concerned that the concept of PAYGO will make it harder for Congress to address the many crises facing our working families.

— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) January 2, 2019

The comment comes as House Democrats unveiled Wednesday a package of new rules for the upcoming Congress that includes a pay-go budgetary rule. The rule requires that legislation be deficit neutral, meaning any costs would need to be offset with new revenue or cuts elsewhere. But the rule can also be waived, and it does not apply to emergency legislation.{mosads}

Progressives Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) both announced they would vote against the bylaws, citing the budgetary rule.

“It is terrible economics. The austerians were wrong about the Great Recession and Great Depression. At some point, politicians need to learn from mistakes and read economic history,” Khanna tweeted on Wednesday.

“PAYGO isn’t only bad economics, as @RoKhanna explains; it’s also a dark political maneuver designed to hamstring progress on healthcare+other leg. We shouldn’t hinder ourselves from the start,” Ocasio-Cortez echoed.

Tomorrow I will also vote No on the rules package, which is trying to slip in #PAYGO.

PAYGO isn’t only bad economics, as @RoKhanna explains; it’s also a dark political maneuver designed to hamstring progress on healthcare+other leg.

We shouldn’t hinder ourselves from the start. https://t.co/WW3UaBs7vh

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 2, 2019

However, Reps. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) and Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), the co-chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus for the next Congress, said they will vote for the rules package.

They said they’ve gotten assurances from House Democratic leaders and incoming Rules Committee Chairman Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) that the pay-go rule can be waived.

This is not the first time Sanders has expressed concerns about pay-go, ripping it in 2017 as “a law that never should have been passed.”

“It makes it much easier for Congress to force cuts to vital programs like Medicare by passing unrelated bills that then need to be offset. But that said, just like the similarly misguided debt limit that Republicans regularly use for hostage taking, it is currently the law of the land,” he said when commenting on the GOP tax plan.

Drew Hammill, a spokesman for House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), defended the House rules and urged Democrats to support them.

“A vote AGAINST the Democratic Rules package is a vote to let Mick Mulvaney make across the board cuts, unilaterally reversing Democratic initiatives and funding increases,” he tweeted, referencing the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget and acting White House chief of staff.

We must replace CUTGO to allow Democrats to designate appropriate offsets (including revenue increases). A vote AGAINST the Democratic Rules package is a vote to let Mick Mulvaney make across the board cuts, unilaterally reversing Democratic initiatives and funding increases. https://t.co/eP5eNxrQ7b

— Drew Hammill (@Drew_Hammill) January 2, 2019

Eighteen Democrats would need to vote against the rules package Thursday to kill the plan if all Republicans vote “no.”