Republican Spending Explosion

Special thanks to a member at Bob Beckel's forum.

"Unfortunately, the balanced budgets of the late 1990s created an "easy money" mindset in Congress, which began a spending spree that continues unabated today. Total federal outlays will rise 29 percent between fiscal years 2001 and 2005 according to the president's fiscal year 2005 budget released in February. Real discretionary spending increases in fiscal years 2002, 2003, and 2004 are three of the five biggest annual increases in the last 40 years. Large spending increases have been the principal cause of the government's return to massive budget deficits.

Although defense spending has increased in response to the war on terrorism, President Bush has made little attempt to restrain nondefense spending to offset the higher Pentagon budget. Nondefense discretionary outlays will increase about 36 percent during President Bush's first term in office. Congress has failed to contain the administration's overspending and has added new spending of its own. Republicans have clearly forfeited any claim of being the fiscally responsible party in Washington."
http://www.cato.org/pubs/briefs/bp-087es.html

On an inflation-adjusted basis, the biggest spenders were:
Richard Nixon (R)
+ 8.6%
John Kennedy (D)
+ 8.3%
Dwight Eisenhower (R)
+ 7.6%
Franklin Roosevelt (R)
+ 6.7%
Lyndon Johnson (R)
+ 6.7%

The smallest spenders were:
Bill Clinton (D)
+ 1.6%
Ronald Reagan (R)
+ 2.1%
Jimmy Carter (D)
+ 2.7%
George H.W. Bush (R)
+ 3.5%
Harry Truman (D)
+ 3.5%