Revised data released during the summer by the
Congressional Budget Office (CBO) provide analysts the
ability to make side-by-side comparisons of the spending
habits of each president during the last 40 years.1 All
presidents presided over net increases in spending overall,
though some were bigger spenders than others. As it turns
out, George W. Bush is one of the biggest spenders of
them all. In fact, he is an even bigger spender than
Lyndon B. Johnson in terms of discretionary spending.
…
George W. Bush is the biggest spending president of
the past 40 years in both the defense and domestic
discretionary spending categories by a long shot. Indeed,
he beats Johnson by almost four percentage points in
defense spending growth and more than three percentage
points in domestic discretionary spending growth.
What?s also remarkable is that Nixon, not Johnson or
Bush, presided over the largest increase in inflationadjusted
annualized entitlement spending. Yet, George W.
Bush, along with his father, follows Johnson in terms of
spending in this category.
…
Iraq and the War on Terror?s Effect on the Budget
Members of President Bush?s staff argue that much of
the growth in discretionary spending is essential to
defending the United States against the threat of terrorism
here and abroad. However, increased spending on fighting
terrorism and for the operations in Iraq and Afghanistan
does not explain the increases in the overall defense
budget.
…