Arrington and Bergman Call for Budgetary Oversight Over Administrative Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO)
On January 5, House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington (R-TX) and Oversight Task Force Chair Jack Bergman (R-MI) sent a letter to the GAO requesting additional information on the implementation of the Fiscal Responsibility Act’s (FRA) Administrative PAYGO provision.
House Republicans intended for Administrative PAYGO to rein in Executive Branch spending and bring fiscal transparency to the American public. However, as the Government Accountability Office (GAO)’s initial report on Administrative PAYGO implementation revealed, the provision in its current form is not doing so.
Word on the Street Via CQ News:
- “[House Budget Committee Republicans] are seeking more information from the Government Accountability Office on the use of the "administrative pay-as-you-go" provision, and exploring legislative actions that Congress could take to give the tool more teeth.”
- “GOP negotiators pushed for the [Administrative PAYGO’s offset requirement] to be included in the debt limit law as a way to force the administration to defray the cost of major rules and regulations.”
- “The House Budget Committee letter also asks GAO to find out how many rules finalized by the administration since January 2021 would fall under the pay-as-you-go provision… And the letter asks GAO what estimates OMB has provided "for determining compliance with" the provision.”
- “Procedures to offset the cost of regulations go back to 2005, when George W. Bush's budget office announced it would seek to pay for the cost of executive actions. President Barack Obama's administration continued the practice, and there were several times during the Bush and Obama administrations when the provision was employed.”
- “Toward the end of his presidency in 2019, Donald Trump signed an executive order he said was meant to reinvigorate the pay-as-you-go practice begun under the Bush administration. Based on a review of records, Trump's budget director, Russ Vought… used the provision as leverage to discourage agencies from proposing needlessly costly regulations, according to a person with knowledge of his actions.”
- “In one of his first actions as president, Biden issued an executive order to repeal the Trump pay-as-you-go rule.”
The Big Picture:
The House Budget Committee’s letter to GAO requests the government watchdog to explore the following issues, including:
- How many rules would qualify under the current Administrative PAYGO provision since President Biden took office; and
- Any estimates detailing the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) projections for the 28 economically significant or major rules since the FRA was enacted.
While OMB’s interpretation of Administrative PAYGO is far from being fiscally responsible, the House Budget Committee and Oversight Task Force will continue down this much-needed path of investigative oversight to ensure Congress is not being circumvented and the federal government is doing all it can to both promote fiscal responsibility and strengthen this much needed provision.
The Bottom Line:
In roughly three years, the Biden Administration has spent more than $1.5 trillion through executive actions in a clear circumvention of Congress; these include but are not limited to:
- $330 billion for the student loan bailout;
- $300 billion for increasing the Thrifty Food Plan;
- $260 billion on the new Income Drive Repayment (IDR) plan; and
- At least $250 billion on multiple actions to dramatically expand Medicaid, including for illegal immigrants and higher income Americans.
The House Budget Committee’s Oversight Task Force will continue sounding the alarm on President Biden’s expansion of the federal government and the reckless spending that threatens to bankrupt America’s future generations.
See below for additional Oversight Task Force information:
- Click HERE to read the Oversight Task Force’s Report, “Looking at the Numbers: Biden’s Big Government,” contextualizing how much the federal government’s spending habits have grown throughout Biden’s tenure.
- Click HERE to access the Oversight Task Force’s whistleblower portal to help sound the alarm on any wrongdoing concerning federal spending and fiscal management.
- Click HERE to submit oversight matters or relevant information to the Oversight Task Force.
