Senate set to vote on pay-go bill to clear way for debate over debt

By Walter Alarkon
01/18/10

Senators will vote on a pay-as-you-go measure this week as they move to address the country’s growing $12.3 trillion debt.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) will bring pay-go to the floor as an amendment to a bill seeking to increase the federal debt ceiling, part of a deal made with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in a broader debate over the federal debt.

Pay-go requires mandatory spending increases to be offset with spending cuts elsewhere or tax hikes. Reid’s office said the language is still being worked out.

The Senate debate on the debt-limit increase will begin Wednesday.

The debt-limit increase and pay-go are pieces of a bigger fiscal reform puzzle.