http://www.personalliberty.com/news/house-approves-record-debt-ceiling-increase-reinstitutes-pay-go-regulations-19601521/The House voted last week to approve "pay-as-you-go" legislation, which requires Congress to offset tax cuts or the funding of new programs by first reducing spending elsewhere or increasing taxes in a different sector. The new regulations were attached to a bill that will raise the debt ceiling by a record $1.9 trillion.
The pay-go legislation was voted against by every Republican member of the House, who dismissed it as ineffective.
"This is just cover for Democrats to feed their spending addiction through new tax increases, and it does nothing to meaningfully increase fiscal accountability or reduce the deficit and debt," said Representative Mike Coffman (R-CO.), quoted by the Coloradoan.
House leaders utilized an unusual procedural maneuver that allowed moderates to vote for the pay-go legislation without directly supporting the debt increase. The entire bill passed without holding a vote on the issue of raising the debt limit.
"With Democrats sinking the country deep into the red, [the] vote to bring on more debt is simply reckless," said Ken Spain, communications director for the National Republican Congressional Committee.
The bill will now be sent to President Obama, who is expected to sign it into law in the coming days.