The House Democratic leadership’s obsession with asserting a “centrist” – that is, fiscally conservative – fiscal ideology threatens to put the party at odds with its base. It endangers the party’s chances of retaking the House, and will make it difficult for Democrats to offer a credible alternative to the failed conservatism of Trump and his party should they win in November.
Pay to Play
Nancy Pelosi recently spoke to a forum hosted by the Peterson Foundation, which was founded by conservative billionaire Peter G. Peterson to promote his own obsession with reducing the federal deficit. Before his death earlier this year, Peterson spent hundreds of millions of dollars inculcating his brand of debt-fixated fiscal conservatism in politicians, journalists, and policy advisors.
“Democrats believe that you must pay as you go,” the House Minority Leader told the forum audience. “Whatever you want to invest in, you must offset.”
As The Hill observes, Pelosi adopted a similar “pay-go” rule when she was Speaker of the House. The rule obliges Congress to “find the money” for any new expenditures, either by raising taxes or cutting spending elsewhere.
Steny Hoyer, the House minority whip, echoed Pelosi’s remarks. “The pay-go rule is a good rule and we ought to reinstitute it,” Hoyer told The Hill.
