Government Outgrows Cap Set by President
Discretionary Spending Up 12.5% in Fiscal '03

By Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 12, 2003; Page A01


Confounding President Bush's pledges to rein in government growth, federal
discretionary spending expanded by 12.5 percent in the fiscal year that
ended Sept. 30, capping a two-year bulge that saw the government grow by
more than 27 percent, according to preliminary spending figures from
congressional budget panels.

The sudden rise in spending subject to Congress's annual discretion stands
in marked contrast to the 1990s, when such discretionary spending rose an
average of 2.4 percent a year. Not since 1980 and 1981 has federal spending
risen at a similar clip. Before those two years, spending increases of this
magnitude occurred at the height of the Vietnam War, 1966 to 1968.

The preliminary spending figures for 2003 also raise questions about the
government's long-term fiscal health. Bush administration officials have
said fiscal restraint and "pro-growth" tax cuts should put the government on
a path to a balanced budget. Bush has demanded that spending that is subject
to Congress's annual discretion be capped at 4 percent.

But the Republican-led Congress has not obliged. The federal government
spent nearly $826 billion in fiscal 2003, an increase of $91.5 billion over
2002, said G. William Hoagland, a senior budget and economic aide to Senate
Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.). Military spending shot up nearly 17
percent, to $407.3 billion, but nonmilitary discretionary spending also far
outpaced Bush's limit, rising 8.7 percent, to $418.6 billion.

Much of the increase was driven by war in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as
homeland security spending after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. But spending
has risen on domestic programs such as transportation and agriculture, as
well. Total federal spending -- including non-discretionary entitlement
programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid -- reached $2.16
trillion in 2003, a 7.3 percent boost, according to the Congressional Budget
Office.

White House officials have said the president's 4 percent annual growth cap
was never supposed to curtail "one-time" spending requests, such as natural
disaster aid or wars. But even if such emergency spending measures are
removed, spending jumped last year by 7.9 percent, Hoagland said.

"Getting growth down to 4 percent? We're still not there, not by any stretch
of the imagination," he said.

Administration officials say spending is being brought under control. White
House spokeswoman Jeanie Mamo said the president cut spending growth,
excluding the Pentagon and homeland security, to 6 percent in 2002 and 5
percent in 2003, and has proposed to hold all discretionary spending to 4
percent growth this year.

"The president has said that he would spend what's necessary to win the war
on terrorism and protect Americans at home," she said, "but outside these
items, he has put a serious brake on other spending, which is key to halving
these deficits over five years."

Even some Republicans have trouble squaring such comments with the evidence.
"It's still more than it ought to be," Hazen Marshall, Senate Budget
Committee staff director, said of spending that excludes the military and
homeland security.

Official spending figures for fiscal 2003 will not be released until
January, when the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office unveils its next
10-year federal deficit forecast. But the latest figures track closely with
the CBO estimates released in August.

"I don't expect the official numbers to be any different than those, or not
much different," Marshall said.

Regardless of the final numbers, there can be little doubt that government
growth has been accelerating, said Richard Kogan, a federal budget analyst
at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. And although Congress
ultimately controls the purse strings, Bush is not immune from criticism,
said Rudolph G. Penner, a Republican and former CBO director.

"The most interesting thing is Bush has not vetoed anything, let alone a
spending program," Penner said. "One wonders how serious the White House is
about holding the line."

Stan Collender, a federal budget analyst at Fleishman-Hillard Inc., said:
"This is an administration that cannot possibly take up the mantle of fiscal
conservatism. It's probably the least fiscally conservative in history."

Penner said the lapse in spending restraint occurred in two stages. First
came large, projected budget surpluses at the end of the Clinton
administration. Discretionary spending rose 0.9 percent in 1998, then 3.6
percent in 1999 and 7.5 percent in 2000. The projected surpluses have
disappeared into a flood of red ink, but the 2001 terrorist attacks, coupled
with a recession that year, eliminated any sense of restraint beyond
rhetoric, Penner said.

"After September 11, it was 'We have to do anything we can to pull ourselves
out of recession and protect ourselves,' " he said, adding that the surge in
deficits and spending have so far had few political ramifications. "I don't
remember a time when there's been so little commentary on it, and I can't
really explain it."

Marshall said the surge in military spending was inevitable, once the nation
mobilized for war, first in Afghanistan and then in Iraq. The nonmilitary
discretionary spending increases have been driven by increases in homeland
security spending, he said.

But even after factoring those out, some Republicans say spending is rising
too quickly. Marshall noted that after Republicans took control of Congress
in the 1994 elections, discretionary spending actually fell, by 1.6 percent
between 1994 and 1996.

Budget experts said taxpayers should not anticipate a return to austerity
anytime soon. The military bill that passed Congress yesterday would mandate
$40 billion in additional spending over the next decade, Marshall said.
Nearly half of that would be for veterans' benefits, but $18 billion would
finance a controversial program to buy and lease military tanker planes from
Boeing Co.

On Thu, 13 Nov 2003 03:04:23 +0000, Bobsprit wrote:


Government Outgrows Cap Set by President Discretionary Spending Up 12.5%
in Fiscal '03

Where do you think all the new jobs are? Big government.

http://www.ncpa.org/iss/bud/2003/pd091203e.html