Yes congress did that. But Reagan fell for the lies and did not try enough vetoes to stop them. If had, and congress overrides the vetoes, my respect for Reagan would be triple higher from my already high respect for him.
Overall, Reagan was a very good and effective president. But I can not bury my head in the sand over the instant and general amnesty to illegals and tripling the size of federal spending.
The spending increase had to do with going up against the USSR—not expanding the welfare state, which is how the left took it post-1989. Spending always goes up during wars, no matter the “temperature”.
“tripling the size of federal spending.”
Reagan did not triple the size of federal spending. Constant dollar(2009) federal spending went from $1543.9 in 1981 to $1887.7 in 1989. This is an increase of 22% over 8 years.
Add to this the fact that some spending was based on formulas and could not be controlled, Democrats controlled Congress and the military needed to be upgraded after being defunded by the Carter Administration.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/Historicals/