Seen as Undermining Bold
Agenda, Progressives Rip Dem Leaders' Embrace of 'Absurd' Pay-Go Rule
"The old guard of this
pathetic, impotent party needs to retire or be voted out."
Embracing the kind of deficit
phobia frequently deployed by the GOP and corporate Democrats to undercut
ambitious goals like Medicare for All, free public college, and a
transformative green energy plan, Democratic leaders are vowing
to reinstitute"fiscally hawkish" pay-as-you go rules if they
retake control of the House in 2018—a move progressives denounced as severely
wrongheaded and "actively harmful."
"The pay-go thing is an
absurd idea," argued Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), leader of the
Congressional Progressive Caucus, in response to The Hill's report on
Wednesday that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Minority Whip
Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) are putting the so-called pay-go policy at the top of their
party's agenda for 2019.
"It would be, I think,
irresponsible to try to tie up Congress's ability to respond to economic
downturns or, in the current discussion, to slash programs," Grijalva
added.
Putting the matter more
bluntly in an analysis on Wednesday, Splinter's Paul Blest artfully argued Democratic
leaders' embrace of the pay-go rule—which would require all spending that adds
to the deficit to be offset by program cuts or tax hikes—is a strong indication
that "they'll do fuck all to put forward a positive vision for the country
they want to run" if they retake the House in 2018.
Others echoed Blest's sharp
critique, declaring that the renewed push for pay-go in the midst of growing
calls for a bold agenda show that
"the old guard of this pathetic, impotent party needs to retire or be
voted out."
While pay-go has long been an
obsession of the Democratic Party's right-wing Blue Dog Caucus, progressives
argue the rule would hamstring the possibility of achieving ambitious and
morally necessary policies like Medicare for All, which is soaring in
popularity among the American public.
"Nancy Pelosi and Steny
Hoyer remain 100 percent committed to losing, and if against all odds they
somehow win, doing nothing good with their power," wrote The
Intercept's Jon Schwartz, noting that support for a regressive policy like
pay-go is a serious strategic mistake.
As Blest notes, pay-go is a
particularly absurd policy for Democrats given that Republicans just completely
ditched their deficit fearmongering—which was never genuine in the first
place—to ram through massive tax breaks for the rich and massive corporations.
"There really is no
better time to push bold ideas that actually make a material
difference in the lives of people who the government and business have left
behind," Blest concluded. "No one gives a sh*t about the deficit
anymore, if they ever did at all. It’s long past time for Democrats to stop
letting this albatross hang around their necks."
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