John Boehner's CutGo Rule

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The Wall Street Journal reports that Republican John Boehner is pushing for a ‘Cut-As-You-Go’ rule:

“Very simply, under this ‘CutGo’ rule, if it is your intention to create a new government program, you must also terminate or reduce spending on an existing government program of equal or greater size–in the very same bill,” Mr. Boehner said during the AEI speech.

If this rule is like PayGo, then it is a waste of time. There are two things you need to know about the Democrat's PayGo rule. First, it never applied to any discretionary spending. None. Nada. Zipo. And, second, when ever it got in the way of actually passing a bill, it was waived. I'm hopeful that Republicans have learned not to play games like that, but I would not be surprised if they did.

When ever lawyers say something, you should always read the fine print.