Last week Roll Call reported that Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) had rounded up 50 votes for a PAYGO amendment, which would require offsets (cut spending, increased taxes, etc.) for any new spending or tax cuts. Just one more vote is necessary for passage of the measure, which derailed last year's budget. Today, The Washington Post's Jonathan Weisman confirms the support of one of the key Republicans backing the measure.

As the Senate took up a budget resolution yesterday for the coming fiscal year, Sen. George V. Voinovich (R-Ohio) threw his weight behind an amendment that would force future tax cuts to be financed by spending reductions or other revenue hikes.

The "pay-as-you-go" amendment, which Voinovich opposed last year, could come to a vote as early as Wednesday. Last year, the same amendment squeaked through the Senate with the backing of virtually every Democrat and four Republicans -- Olympia J. Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine, John McCain (Ariz.) and Lincoln D. Chafee (R.I.). But President Bush and House Republicans refused to go along, and Congress failed for the second time in three years to complete a budget plan.

With a GOP Senate majority that is four seats larger, supporters of the pay-as-you-go amendment conceded they will need more than Voinovich's support to win passage. Voinovich opposed the measure last year because economic growth was still fragile and the tax cuts that were set to expire in 2004 largely benefited the middle class, spokesman Scott Milburn said.

It is of the utmost importance that Feingold is able to find one more supporter for the measure. In the $400 billion range, the budget deficit is already untenable today; with the deficit set to nearly double after Bush is out of office -- he designed his budgets very carefully to push the negative consequences to future generations -- serious action must be taken today to curtail the problem.

PAYGO is one of the most effective ways to ensure that Congress lives within its means. Its strict enforcement during the 1990s helped lead to one of the greatest periods of economic groth in human history and provided the basis for the massive budgetary surpluses the Clinton administration passed on to George W. Bush.

Although passage of the Feingold amendment does not mean that PAYGO will become law -- most likely the House will balk at such a measure -- its enactment would make a budget deal between the two Houses of Congress unlikely, leading to more difficulty for President Bush's attempts to bankrupt the nation through more tax cuts for the extremely wealthy.

The stakes are extremely high, so grassroots action must be taken soon to help coax some Senators into supporting the Feingold amendment. The best targets in the Republican caucus are Gordon Smith of Oregon and John Sununu of New Hampshire, with a definite emphasis on Smith. There is a real chance of success on the measure, but the blogosphere must get involved. Let's try not to drop the ball on this one.