Try Wordnik, the new dictionary with more than 1.7 million words. Examples, pronunciations, and more!
Dictionary definition of “pay-for”

pay-for

n. in pay-as-you-go (or PAYGO) budgeting, a spending cut or tax increase that covers the budget for a piece of legislation. Subjects: , , ,
Citations: 1999 Political Transcripts by Federal Document Clearing House (Oct. 21) “Democratic Party Congressional Leadership Hold News Conference”: Democrats—do Democrats oppose the policies reflected in the tax provisions in the minimum wage bill? If a pay-for could be found, do you have any problem, since this is what—a much smaller tax provision than the vetoed bill? What’s your position? 2003 Committee on Financial Services U.S. House of Representatives (Washington, D.C.) (Apr. 30) “United States Monetary and Economic Policy”: I think Chairman Greenspan mentioned today that he thought that it would be a slam dunk, no-brainer if you could find a pay-for for that, if you could make it so that it was revenue neutral. But I would argue that if you were to look at the net economic effect of the president’s plan absent such a pay-for, that it would still move you to make this reform because, again, if we don’t, then we’re going to fail to address a very pressing problem. 2007 Jeffrey H. Birnbaum Washngton Post (Mar. 12) “New Math on Hill, Scramble on K Street”: The Democrats’ new pay-as-you-go budget regimen means that lawmakers who want to spend more on one program have to either cut another or raise taxes to pay for it. Similarly, if they want to cut taxes, they must fund the cut by trimming programs or raising other taxes to make up the difference. Those budgetary offsets are called pay-fors—a new Washington buzzword striking fear in the hearts of special interests. 2009 Jamie Dupree KRMG.com (July 16) “Still Looking For GOP Votes”: One issue was how to pay for reform—the “pay-fors” as they are called. “There are problems with the pay-fors,” Chambliss said, adding that the President had specifically asked him if he could support the surtaxes on the wealthy in the House bill unveiled by Democrats on Tuesday. “I’m not for raising taxes, period,” was the message from Chambliss.

Leave a comment (must be approved by the moderator before it will appear).

Name (mandatory):

Email (mandatory):

Location (optional):

Your Web Site (optional):

Remember my personal information

Notify me, by email, of follow-up comments.

Recent Catchwords
nimbleton n. (11/6)
kitchen n. (11/6)
skuke n. (11/6)
parlor n. (11/6)
strap hanging n. (10/8)
parclo n. (10/8)
Dipper n. (10/8)
jeggings n. (10/5)
dittoism n. (10/5)
crop n. (10/3)
sliming n. (10/3)
protestival n. (10/3)
excessing n. (10/3)
pencil top n. (10/3)
trophy jacket n. (10/3)
ball golf n. (10/3)
Scottish cringe n. (10/3)
bagel v. (9/30)
shake and bake n. (9/30)
 More catchwords...
New Comments
Ben Zimmer commented on riffed (8/18)
Gregory Teague commented on Taig (8/13)
Ben Zimmer commented on single shot (8/9)
christymarx commented on heinie (8/6)
amy_lu commented on mouth-breather (7/19)
hawkoffee commented on Mortarville (7/8)
Featherwood0973 commented on featherwood (6/30)
garyvh commented on rexing (6/28)
JR commented on jam track (6/21)
ElasticMind commented on innerpreneur (6/20)
GlennT commented on fourwall (5/31)
RevRayGreen commented on medible (5/25)
OKSoldiers commented on Mortarville (5/21)
Lew Hollerbach commented on eyebrow window (4/24)
Ollie commented on rexing (4/22)
Subscribe to the RSS feed.Subscribe to the mailing list.Browse the archive.Add to Technorati Favorites. © 1999-2009 by Grant Barrett, Double-Tongued Dictionary, New York City.