Bush outspends Clinton, Reagan, Nixon and
LBJ
The Reason
October 12, 2005
Over the past two weeks, I've written or co-written a couple of things about
how George W. Bush outspent Lyndon Baines Johnson in his first four budgets. To
recap: When it comes to inflation-adjusted increases in discretionary spending
(comprising most defense and nonentitlement spending), Dubya beats LBJ like Sam
Houston beat Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto.
The gap becomes even bigger when you stretch the comparisons out to the
first five years of each prez's budgets. Here are numbers for all recent
presidents who oversaw at least five budgets prepared by American Enterprise
Institute analyst Veronique de Rugy. All are based on Office of Management and
Budget and all are adjusted for inflation. The Bush figure for fiscal year 2005
is based on OMB midsession review numbers; the figure for fiscal year 2006 is
based on the OMB midsession review of the budget Bush submitted earlier this
year (if anything, the final figures will be higher than his provisional
budget):
First Five Years, Percentage Changes in Real Discretionary
Spending
LBJ: 25.2%
Nixon: -16.5%
Reagan: 11.9%
Clinton: -8.2%
Bush: 35.2%
Read 'em and weep.
Posted by Nick Gillespie at October 12, 2005 11:15 AM
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