Closing the barn door after the horse has gone

The Blue Dog Democrats, formerly known for their opposition to deficit spending, have thrown their support behind the President's budget because it promises "PAYGO," to pay for what they spend. Heritage tells us what meaningful PAYGO would look like:

1. PAYGO must be enforceable. ...The most effective form of PAYGO would include both a statute, enforceable by sequestration,
2. PAYGO should apply to all new policies. ...However, the current Senate PAYGO rule actually exempts all tax and entitlement changes
3. PAYGO should apply to “emergency” spending.
4. Congress should not stymie PAYGO enforcement. Not a single sequestration took place during PAYGO’s 12 years as law. Instead, lawmakers repeatedly passed legislation that forbade OMB from enforcing PAYGO at all.
5. PAYGO sequestration should apply to all mandatory spending.