Fiscal Responsibility
Democrats are committed to restoring Fiscal Reponsibility to our nation.
SKYROCKETING REPUBLICAN SPENDING
- In his first term in office, President Bush presided over the greatest increase in federal
spending since the Reagan Administration.
- Since Republicans took control of the White House in 2001, Republicans increased total federal
spending by an average of nearly 7.1% a year, nearly double the rate in the last five years of the
Clinton-era budgets.
- The Republican Congress passed legislation increasing mandatory spending by $262 billion from
2001 to 2006 without offsets by ignoring and then letting pay-as-you-go spending rules expire.
- Under President Clinton, domestic spending decreased from 3.4% of GDP to 3.1% in 2000, and
total spending decreased from 22.1% of GDP to 18.4%. Under Bush, domestic spending increased
to 3.5% of GDP in 2006, and total spending increased to 20.3% of GDP.
- President Bush's veto threats on spending for key domestic priorities are for mere political show; the amount he is threatening to veto equals two months of spending in Iraq.
RECORD-SETTING REPUBLICAN DEFICITS
- President Bush and Congressional Republicans turned a projected 10-year budget surplus of $5.6
trillion into a projected 10-year deficit of $3 trillion.
- In five years, Republicans have created the three largest budget deficits in American history: -$378
billion in FY 2003, -$412 billion in FY 2004, and -$318 billion in FY 2005, and the President's
budget would continue to run deficits as far as the eye can see.
EXPLODING REPUBLICAN DEBT
- As a result of their fiscal recklessness, Republicans were forced to increase the debt limit four
times in five years, for a total of over $3 trillion: June 2002 - $450 billion; May 2003 - $984
billion; November 2004 - $800 billion; March 2006 - $781 billion
- The Clinton Administration paid down the publicly held debt by $453 billion between 1997 and 2001.