In the Press: Shutdown Silver Lining, Economic Costs, and PAYGO
Boccia: Privatize Air Traffic Control and Airport Security Screenings and Devolve Food Stamps to the States
Watch Boccia highlight a possible silver lining from the government shutdown in 88 seconds:
Boccia: Next shutdown could drag out much longer.
Zach Halaschak reports for the Washington Examiner:
“It was the longest government shutdown, and the longer they drag on, the costlier they become,” Romina Boccia, director of budget and entitlement policy at the libertarian Cato Institute, told the Washington Examiner.
Boccia, who has been closely following the economics of the shutdown, said Thursday after the government reopened that she estimates the economic losses that won’t be recovered from the shutdown to be about $7 billion. […]
Thousands of flights were canceled or delayed, and many travelers may have opted to forego their flights due to the chaos.
“The economic costs of canceled flights and hours that the airlines have to pay for the pilots and their runway time, and the flight attendants that end up getting disrupted during the government shutdown but are still eligible to be compensated for their time, would be another example,” Boccia said.
Additionally, uncertainty stemming from the shutdown might have delayed certain projects and investments, which could incur further costs, Boccia said.
And while the longest shutdown in U.S. history was finally resolved this week, uncertainty remains on the horizon. The legislation that was passed only funds the government through January, although […] the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program [is] funded through the fiscal year.
That could lead to another shutdown next year, which could incur additional costs. Boccia said that without the political leverage of food stamp payments ending, that one could be even longer.
“I could imagine another government shutdown after January 30, and I worry that that one could drag out much longer,” she warned.
Boccia: Replace Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO)
Thérèse Boudreaux writes at The Center Square about a lesser-known provision in the deal to end the government shutdown that wiped the congressional Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO) scorecard, effectively forgiving nearly $3.4 trillion in deficits from the Republican tax-cut-and-spend bill (OBBBA).
“That’s why this was included in the appropriations bill. It had nothing to do with appropriations,” Romina Boccia, director of budget and entitlement policy at the Cato Institute, told The Center Square. “It was all about getting those 60 votes, because that’s what PAYGO requires in order to eliminate those required spending reductions that would have been triggered by the Republicans’ reconciliation bill.”
[…]
“There’s a lot of hand-waving when it comes to these deficits, but unfortunately, because Congress has pretty much consistently eliminated the spending cuts from the PAYGO scorecard in all instances – whether the Democrats put the deficits on there, or the Republicans – there’s been very little fight on it,” Boccia said.
“What it tells us is that PAYGO has become completely worthless, and that we should replace it and stop pretending like we have a deficit-controlling rule on the books when it’s pretty much understood that it will always be negated,” she added.
Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) first rang the alarm bells over the PAYGO provision on X.
