House Rules Include Pay-Go Changes - January 4, 2011

Before moving to the Affordable Care Act repeal bill, the House will pass its rules for the 112th Congress this week. The new rules include substantial changes to pay-as-you-go (pay-go) budget rules, which currently require all bills with increased spending or reduced revenues (i.e. tax cuts) to be offset by reduced spending or increased revenues elsewhere in the budget. The new pay-go rules will continue to require offsets for spending increases, but will not require offsets for tax cuts. Importantly, the new House rules also include an exception to pay-go rules for the health reform repeal bill. The Affordable Care Act was scored as saving the Federal Government billions of dollars over ten years. The repeal bill will therefore result in increased spending, but due to the exception, it will not have to be offset.