In the last few years, the U.S. has been on a fiscal decline. The dramatic shift from record surpluses to a record deficit in federal debt has many sitting back in astonishment. Back in 2001, the government had a projected 10-year surplus $5.6 trillion. As of the 2009 fiscal year, there is a $1.7 trillion deficit.

A multitude of factors contributed to the eight-year shift. In no particular order, they include the costs of prosecuting two wars, reckless tax cuts, out of control entitlement programs, and, of course, the cost of bailing out the economy in the midst of deep recession. Another factor not as widely known today, was the decision by the Bush administration to turn away from the concept of paying for what it buyer that governed the way government spends.

President Obama has made it clear that he means to return this pay-as-you=go rule, also known as “paygo” and make it a guiding principle in his campaign to return to fiscal responsibility. The paygo program would require Congress to local saving for the money that is plans to spend. It was this paygo method that helped the Clinton administration in 1990s achieve the high surpluses and rescue the budget from doldrums.

In fact, the demand for the institution of a permanent paygo law has many Democrats anxious to propose a comprehensive bill that would make it part of Congressional law. This would make sure that any bill that passes through the legislative body would need a declare payment strategy. No matter if Democrats of Republicans controlled Congress, this law would help protect the fiscal health of the country in the face of current political pressures.

Critics have suggested that paygo would limit the body’s ability to fund pressing priorities such as clean energy or education. Others complain that the principle would create a face-off between tax cuts and spending cuts. Of course, some would say that this is what responsible budgeting all about. It is a willingness to make hard choices between competing priorities. Moreover, paygo would help legislators eliminate wasteful spending and subsidies.

Obama’s paygo proposal would require that all new policies reducing revenues or expanding entitlement spending be offset.

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