The Blue Dog Coalition, a group of House Democrats that bills itself as fiscally conservative, has successfully pressured House leaders to make sure the bill keeps within the contours of the chamber's PAYGO, short for "pay-as-you-go" rule, which requires new expenditures or tax cuts to be offset by tax increases or spending cuts...

"PAYGO worked for small things, but it is proving to have absolutely no teeth in forcing people to make hard choices," said Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a Washington group that advocates fiscal discipline... LINK (subscription required)