GWB's non-defense discretionary spending is a greater percentage of GDP than Reagan's was, in Reagan's last four budgets.
Bear in mind, President Reagan had a more expensive Cold War to fight, and we aren't really talking about Defense Spending anyway, since most here favor a strong national defense; we're talking about non-defense discretionary spending.
Here's the pertinent CBO table...
| Discretionary Outlays, 1962-2002 |
(As a percentage of GDP) |
| |
Defense |
International |
Domestic |
Total |
|
| 1962 |
9.2 |
|
1.0 |
|
2.5 |
|
12.7 |
|
| 1963 |
8.9 |
|
0.9 |
|
2.7 |
|
12.5 |
|
| 1964 |
8.6 |
|
0.7 |
|
3.0 |
|
12.3 |
|
| 1965 |
7.4 |
|
0.7 |
|
3.2 |
|
11.3 |
|
| 1966 |
7.8 |
|
0.7 |
|
3.4 |
|
11.9 |
|
| 1967 |
8.9 |
|
0.7 |
|
3.6 |
|
13.1 |
|
| 1968 |
9.4 |
|
0.6 |
|
3.6 |
|
13.6 |
|
| 1969 |
8.7 |
|
0.4 |
|
3.2 |
|
12.4 |
|
| 1970 |
8.1 |
|
0.4 |
|
3.4 |
|
11.9 |
|
| 1971 |
7.3 |
|
0.3 |
|
3.7 |
|
11.3 |
|
| 1972 |
6.7 |
|
0.4 |
|
3.8 |
|
10.9 |
|
| 1973 |
5.9 |
|
0.4 |
|
3.7 |
|
9.9 |
|
| 1974 |
5.6 |
|
0.4 |
|
3.6 |
|
9.6 |
|
| 1975 |
5.6 |
|
0.5 |
|
4.0 |
|
10.1 |
|
| 1976 |
5.2 |
|
0.4 |
|
4.5 |
|
10.1 |
|
| 1977 |
4.9 |
|
0.4 |
|
4.6 |
|
10.0 |
|
| 1978 |
4.7 |
|
0.4 |
|
4.8 |
|
9.9 |
|
| 1979 |
4.7 |
|
0.4 |
|
4.6 |
|
9.6 |
|
| 1980 |
4.9 |
|
0.5 |
|
4.7 |
|
10.1 |
|
| 1981 |
5.2 |
|
0.4 |
|
4.5 |
|
10.1 |
|
| 1982 |
5.8 |
|
0.4 |
|
3.9 |
|
10.1 |
|
| 1983 |
6.1 |
|
0.4 |
|
3.8 |
|
10.3 |
|
| 1984 |
5.9 |
|
0.4 |
|
3.5 |
|
9.9 |
|
| 1985 |
6.1 |
|
0.4 |
|
3.5 |
|
10.0 |
|
| 1986 |
6.2 |
|
0.4 |
|
3.3 |
|
10.0 |
|
| 1987 |
6.1 |
|
0.3 |
|
3.1 |
|
9.5 |
|
| 1988 |
5.8 |
|
0.3 |
|
3.1 |
|
9.3 |
|
| 1989 |
5.6 |
|
0.3 |
|
3.1 |
|
9.0 |
|
| 1990 |
5.2 |
|
0.3 |
|
3.2 |
|
8.7 |
|
| 1991 |
5.4 |
|
0.3 |
|
3.3 |
|
9.0 |
|
| 1992 |
4.9 |
|
0.3 |
|
3.4 |
|
8.6 |
|
| 1993 |
4.5 |
|
0.3 |
|
3.4 |
|
8.2 |
|
| 1994 |
4.1 |
|
0.3 |
|
3.4 |
|
7.8 |
|
| 1995 |
3.7 |
|
0.3 |
|
3.4 |
|
7.4 |
|
| 1996 |
3.5 |
|
0.2 |
|
3.2 |
|
6.9 |
|
| 1997 |
3.3 |
|
0.2 |
|
3.1 |
|
6.7 |
|
| 1998 |
3.1 |
|
0.2 |
|
3.0 |
|
6.4 |
|
| 1999 |
3.0 |
|
0.2 |
|
3.0 |
|
6.3 |
|
| 2000 |
3.0 |
|
0.2 |
|
3.1 |
|
6.3 |
|
| 2001 |
3.1 |
|
0.2 |
|
3.2 |
|
6.5 |
|
| 2002 |
3.4 |
|
0.3 |
|
3.5 |
|
7.1 |
|
|
|
|
Up front, let's understand that Presidents aren't responsible for the budget in the year in which they take office. That is the responsibility of the outgoing President. So President Reagan's Budgets are highlighted in red, from 1982 through 1989.
As of this writing, President Bush only has one bodget in this table for which he is responsible, 2002, which I've highlighted in blue. I've bold faced the numbers for non-defense and total discretionary spending of their outgoing predecessors, Presidents Carter and Clinton.
Note that in the President Carter's last year, non-defnese discretionary spending stood at 4.5% of GDP. It immediately dropped to 3.9% in President Reagan's first year, and held firm or declined in every one of his budgets, eventually ending up at 3.1% of GDP.
In President Bush's first year, he increased non-defense discretionary spending from President Clinton's final 3.2% of GDP, up to 3.5%, higher than it's been since 1985, when President Reagan was bringing it down.
President Reagan, like President Bush, had a legislature with only one chamber held by the GOP. Yet non-defense discretionary spending only declined under President Reagan, while it has increased under President Bush.
Looking at total discretionary spending, we see a 0.6% jump for President Bush over President Clinton, from 6.5% to 7.1%.
With President Reagan, however, we see that his total discretionary spending peaked in 1983 at 10.3%, only 0.2% higher than President Carter's final 10.1%, before dropping to 9.0% at the end of his term.
Again, President Reagan's figures include Cold War defense spending, which was a more expensive enterprise than the War on Terror.
Then numbers for President Bush are too few for a good sample, but one certainly can't extrapolate a trend of fiscal restraint from them.
