Once and for all the question of who is responsible for our Nation’s finances is being answered. While the President of the United States can influence, ultimate the responsibility falls to Congress. That couldn’t be clearer than this year (2011) when we have a Republican controlled House and a Democrat controlled Senate fighting over the direction and size of spending. So if Congress is responsible for our budget, why do the “experts” track budget performance and National Debt by Presidents? Shouldn’t it be tracked by which party controlled Congress?
It does matter how you track budget performance. Let’s take the first Bush presidency. The National Debt stood at $2.6 trillion at the end of 1988 and rose to $4.0 trillion by 1992 for an increase of 54% during his Presidency. Publicly held debt rose 46% and debt borrowed from Government Accounts (i.e. Social Security) rose 82%. This is hardly a stellar track record for a Republican president as is pointed out by Democrats on a regular basis.
But let’s take a second look. This time let’s look at which party controlled Congress during those same years. President Bush served for four years (2 Congressional Sessions). During those two sessions the Democrats controlled the House by an average 263 to 172 (91) seats and the Senate by an average 55 to 45 (10) seats. This sheds a much different light on the subject doesn’t it? It may also explain why Democrats and the media prefer to track budget performance and debt increase by president. Not only is it easier to follow one individual, but it takes the “heat” off of the Democrats.
Curious to see the control of Congress since the Republican and Democrat parties dominated the politics of the our country, I created a worksheet showing that for each session of Congress. What appeared was three distinct periods. The period from 1861 to 1931 was one dominated by Republican Presidents (all but 2) and Republican control of both the House and Senate. During this period we saw surpluses during times of peace and prosperity and deficits during times of war and economic turmoil.
The second period, from 1932-1994, saw a nearly equal number of Republican (5) and Democrat (6) presidents. However Congress was dominated by the Democrats. The Democrats controlled the House by an average of 75 seats (259-174). Republicans only held the majority for 3 of the 32 sessions (1931-1932, 1947-1948 & 1953-1954). Democrats controlled the Senate by an average of 17 seats (57-43). Republicans only held the majority for 6 of the 32 sessions including 3 shown above and the first three sessions while President Reagan held office. Even during President Reagan’s term the House was dominated by Democrats as they held an average majority of 77 seats (256-179). It was during this period that we saw a change in fiscal management away from surpluses to deficit spending.
As voters have struggled with which party to trust regarding our budget, some facts might help give light to the subject. The first is the last time the two parties were responsible for a budget surplus. The last time a budget passed by a Democrat controlled Congress finished with a surplus was 1969. They’ve been responsible for 30 budgets since then, all have ended with deficits. The Republican’s last surplus came in 2001. They are 4 surpluses for their last 12 budgets. 911 (2001) and the 2008 financial collapse had a serious impact on budget performance from 2002 – the current. In 2011 it is Republicans who are fighting for fiscal constraint, not Democrats.
The second place we might look is to the 104th Congress. That Congress held a vote on the Balanced Budget Amendment. While a close vote, it failed to pass. Many of the current Senate Democrat Party leadership team were in office then. Then Senators Reid, Kerry, Levin, Murray, Boxer, Feinstein, Leahy and Rockefeller along with then Representatives Durbin and Sanders all voted AGAINST the balanced budget amendment. At the time our National Debt was $5 trillion. Those same members of Congress are opposing any reduction in spending from President Obama’s budget which shows our debt growing to over $26 trillion by 2021. (And that’s dramatically understated, as I’ve pointed out in previous blogs.)
It appears the country has a clear choice. If you believe unlimited debt is a proper way to manage our finances, Democrats offer the best choice. Otherwise you may want to look for an alternative!
