With the strong support of Sen. Susan Collins, the U.S. Senate on Dec. 12 passed a bill suspending the required payout retirees must take from their IRAs or 401(k)s after reaching their 70th birthdays. The deferment is for 2009.

Sen. Collins has also asked the U.S. Treasury to suspend these payments for 2008 as well, under the reasoning that the government should not force strapped retirees from emptying, or paying a harsh penalty on accounts whose values have plummeted.

The bill passed by the Senate last week was approved by the House of Representatives, and awaits the president’s signature.

For current retirees, the suspension of these payments – called required minimum distribution, or RMDs – are significant, and may help mitigate some of the crushing losses that retirement accounts have absorbed this year.

But suspending RMDs costs money in tax revenue. (The reason they exist in the first place is to prevent hoarding of tax-free money in retirement accounts. The government makes retirees take the payment, so the government gets its share.)

In this case, a projected cost of suspending RMDs is $3.66 billion over 10 years, according to Sen. Collins’ office. No offset for this revenue reduction has been circulated so far, and none seems to be forthcoming.

This highlights an unsettling trend among growing calls for increased government outlays to combat the deepening recession; repaying the debt accrued today is a problem that’s being left to tomorrow to solve.

It’s a recurring theme. Calculating the United States government debt can already fry a calculator, even as plans for multi-billion-dollar stimulus packages, infrastructure projects and perhaps local government rescue plans remain in formulation.

Yet tomorrow comes. That’s another theme. What’s happened to all the homeowners behind in their mortgages, or consumers swamped in credit cards, is that the consideration of debt repayment fell against the rush into spending.

The federal government cannot run the country the same way. We know how this story ends, unfortunately.

Delaying RMDs, as pushed by Sen. Collins, is laudable, and should pay dividends right now for retirees struggling against the prospect of emptying an account that’s perhaps 30 to 40 percent lighter than months ago, or paying a steep penalty for not doing so.

But this immediate benefit comes at a high cost, which won’t be borne by the retirees who stand to gain from the delay. The next generation of taxpayers and businesses will get the bill, once time passes and this crisis – hopefully – fades.

Seeds of the next fiscal meltdown should not be sown while saving this year’s crop. This doesn’t mean government should stand idle, though.

It does mean it must understand the long-term effect of its actions, and the debt, because ignorance of this relationship has caused enough trouble already.