PayWhat?????

So President Obama announced his PayGo plan. The media reaction has been less than laudatory - almost (dare I say it) critical of a PayGo plan that does NOT Pay as you Go.....

The AP said - “President Barack Obama on Tuesday proposed budget rules that would allow Congress to borrow tens of billions of dollars and put the nation deeper in debt to jump-start the administration’s emerging health care overhaul. The “pay-as-you-go” budget formula plan is significantly weaker than a proposal Obama issued with little fanfare last month. It would carve out about $2.5 trillion worth of exemptions for Obama’s priorities over the next decade. His health care reform plan also would get a green light to run big deficits in its early years. But over a decade, Congress would have to come up with money to cover those early year deficits.”

So he proposes a "pay as you go" plan that OK's billions of dollars in borrowing...how is that paying as you go?

The Washington Post reports that Congressional DEMOCRATS are pointing out the borrowing loopholes -

And while the proposal found favor in the House, it faced serious obstacles in the Senate, where several key senators said they would oppose it.

"I'm not for waiving PAYGO for $3.5 trillion of items, much of which I think ought to be paid for," said Senate Budget Committee chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.). "I don't think at this point we can afford not to pay for those very large expenditures."

Coming one day after Obama vowed to shovel money from the economic stimulus package out the door even more quickly, yesterday's call for fiscal rectitude also drew catcalls from Republicans.

"The president continues to display a frightening ability to say one thing, yet do the exact opposite," said Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.). "It's frankly insulting that a president who is on a path to bankrupting our government would try to play the role of fiscal hawk."

One independent analyst put it more bluntly when she said "This is like quitting drinking, but making an exception for beer and hard liquor," said Maya MacGuineas, president of the bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

Meanwhile that ultra conservative rag the New York Times had this to say about the "PayGo" proposal.

During the first four months of his administration, President Obama has committed roughly $1 trillion in federal spending – a $787 billion economic recovery package, and $350 billion in money to bail out the nation’s banks. But on Tuesday, Mr. Obama was talking about saving money, not spending it.

Speaking from the East Room of the White House, the president announced he is sending legislation to Congress to restore the 1990s era “pay as you go’’ law, known as Paygo. The law, in effect from 1990 to 2002, required that any new entitlement spending or tax cuts be offset with by entitlement increases or tax cuts.

“The ‘pay as you go’ principle is very simple,’’ Mr. Obama said. “Congress can only spend a dollar if it saves a dollar elsewhere. This principle guides responsible families managing a budget. And it is no coincidence that this rule was in place when we moved from record deficits to record surpluses in the 1990s - and that when this rule was abandoned, we returned to record deficits that doubled the national debt.’’

But critics of Paygo say it is not simple at all. Brian Riedl, a budget analyst at the conservative-leaning Heritage Foundation, said the Paygo law required Congress to make across-the-board cuts in entitlement spending at the end of any year in which the Congressional Budget Office found that Paygo requirements had not been met. He said lawmakers responded each time by passing another bill, waiving the Paygo requirements.

“Paygo is a gimmick,’’ Mr. Riedl said.

Emphasis mine. CBS - a long time cheerleader for the President explains why this PayGo proposal is a gimmick...

But briefing reporters, White House Budget Director Peter Orszag conceded some of PAYGO’s limitations. It doesn’t cover discretionary spending.

“PAYGO only applies to the mandatory side of the budget and to revenue,” said Orszag. That means entitlement programs such as Medicare and revenue programs like taxes. It’ll cover the compulsory health care plan the president wants Congress to pass – but over five or 10 years. In a single year, the plan may exceed PAYGO limits.

In addition, about 40 percent of the federal budget, programs for education, energy, the military, etc., would not be covered by PAYGO, said Orszag. A different set of Senate and House rules apply to those programs, he said.

As for existing deficits and the National Debt, which today stands at an all-time high of $11.39 trillion, PAYGO has no effect, other than to slow its growth by restraining some government spending. Orszag says the government is already in a deep economic hole and PAYGO is intended to stop further digging.

Except as CBS pointed out it does NOT stop further digging. If it did, it would cover ALL aspects of the federal budget, not just small portions of it.

If President Obama were really sincere about the need for PayGo he would have never proposed all of the billions of dollars in deficit he has proposed, nor would he have signed the pork laden "stimulus" bill or any of the bail out bills. No - President Obama is not serious about PayGo - he is only throwing this out now as a bone to the Tea Party Movement. He is tacking back to the political middle because he understands that many voters are disappointed with the growth of government spending.

He's just another politician who campaigns on what the voters want to hear - only to ignore (or pay lip service to) those voters once he gets into office. I hate to say I told you so but.....