The Grand Old Spending Party

It appears them Republicans are spending a little too much money. And to think, they just keep cutting those taxes for the rich. But I guess as long as there are gays out there to bash and abortion remains legal...none of these red state hicks who vote for Bush Inc. will care.

From the CATO Institute

FACTS:
President Bush has presided over the largest overall increase in inflation-adjusted federal spending since Lyndon B. Johnson.

After excluding spending on defense and homeland security, Bush is still the biggest-spending president in 30 years. His 2006 budget doesn’t cut enough spending to change his place in history, either.

Total government spending grew by 33 percent during Bush’s first term. The federal budget as a share of the economy grew from 18.5 percent of GDP on Clinton’s last day in office to 20.3 percent by the end of Bush’s first term.

The Republican Congress has enthusiastically assisted the budget bloat. Inflation-adjusted spending on the combined budgets of the 101 largest programs they vowed to eliminate in 1995 has grown by 27 percent.

The final nondefense budgets under Clinton were a combined $57 billion smaller than what he proposed from 1996 to 2001. Under Bush, Congress passed budgets that spent a total of $91 billion more than the president requested for domestic programs. Bush signed every one of those bills during his first term. Even if Congress passes Bush’s new budget exactly as proposed, not a single cabinet-level agency will be smaller than when Bush assumed office.