What has vexed conservatives most is the 31.5 percent growth since
Bush took office in discretionary spending.
That is the one-third of the budget lawmakers approve annually for
defense, domestic security, school aid and everything else except
Social Security and other benefits.
Such spending grew by an annual average of 3.4 percent during
Clinton's eight years.
Further infuriating conservatives, Bush and the Republican-run
Congress have enacted a $400 billion, 10-year enlargement of Medicare;
$87 billion in expanded benefits for farmers; and $40 billion for
increased veterans' payments and the Air Force's leasing and buying of
refueling tankers.
"Re-election has become the focus of Republicans in the White House
and Congress. And those in power have determined the road to staying
in power is paved with government spending," said Brian Riedl, who
monitors the budget for the conservative Heritage Foundation.
Mounting spending has combined with the recession and two major tax
cuts to turn a four-year string of annual surpluses into deficits that
last year hit $374 billion, the worst ever in dollar terms.
Administration officials and private forecasters say red ink could hit
$500 billion this year, with more to follow.
Things look bleak in the long run, too.
Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget
Office has said the Medicare bill could cost from $1.7 trillion to $2
trillion during its second 10 years, as the huge baby boom generation
retires and foists added costs on taxpayers.
"The U.S. budget is out of control," the investment bank Goldman,
Sachs & Co. wrote its clients, projecting large deficits for the next
decade.
"Any thoughts of relief thereafter are a pipe dream until political
priorities adjust."
From The Associated Press, 1/5/04:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2004/01/05/national1438EST0603.DTL
Conservatives simmer as spending mushrooms under Bush
ALAN FRAM, Associated Press Writer
Monday, January 5, 2004
WASHINGTON (AP) --
Conservatives wait warily as President Bush makes final decisions
about his election-year budget, three years into an administration on
whose watch spending has mushroomed by 23.7 percent, the fastest pace
in a decade.
While Bush has emphasized repeatedly the need to rein in spending,
overall federal expenditures have grown to an estimated $2.31 trillion
for the budget year that started Oct. 1.
That is up from $1.86 trillion in President Clinton's final year, a
rate of growth not seen for any three-year period since 1989 to 1991.
______________________________________________________
Conservatives simmer and who can blame them.
Harry
.
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