Pay as You Go … on Some Things

Much has been made about a new rule signed into law called “paygo.” It is seen as a way to rein in federal spending and will require that any spending increases be paid for (read: cut somewhere else or raise taxes).

At first, it sounds good. The problem, as this short ABC News story notes, is that the rule would exempt “Most other benefit programs, including Medicaid, Social Security and food stamps ….”

This chart on federal spending demonstrates the bulk of the federal budget that Medicaid and Social Security make up:

It’s hard to control spending when you exempt such large portions of the budget. Not only that, but the same bill also included an increase in the federal debt limit.

* A graphic showing President Obama’s latest budget by department/office was included in this previous post.