"HarryKrause" wrote in message
...
Discretionary Spending Reaches Record Levels Under Bush

"Discretionary spending" -- meaning spending that is subject to annual
legislative appropriations, as opposed to spending for entitlement
programs such as Social Security and Medicare -- actually grew only 5.6%
in Clinton 's last budget year (fiscal year 2001, which began October 1,
2000 ).

Since then discretionary spending has not "steadily declined" as the
President said, but has gone up. In fact, the growth has been much faster
than under Clinton . In the first year for which President Bush signed the
spending bills discretionary spending growth soared to 13.1%, and annual
growth remained in double digits through the current fiscal year."

http://www.factcheck.org/article.aspx?docID=139

"Discretionary spending -- meaning spending that is subject to annual
legislative appropriations, as opposed to spending for entitlement
programs such as Social Security and Medicare -- actually grew only 5.6%
in Clinton 's last budget year (fiscal year 2001, which began October 1,
2000.


Nice try. Remember that this article is from February 2004. Discretionary
spending over the first three years of Bush's term increased by 16%,
excluding Homeland Security and DOD spending. A 16% jump in three years is
roughly 5% per year.

Clinton's discretionary spending increased 5.6% in his final budget year
(beginning in October 2000). However, Clinton *cut* military
spending...which means his non-military discretionary spending increases
exceeded Bush's.