As Consumer Confidence Declines Again, Report Card Gives
Overall Bush Economic Policies A Failing Grade
October 26, 2004 -- On the same day that new data showed a further erosion in consumer confidence - the third monthly decline in a row - the House Budget Committee Democratic staff today released an “economic report card” detailing the Bush Administration’s overall economic record. In all, the report card examines 19 economic indicators spanning four broad areas: the labor market, economic production, the international economy, as well as consumer confidence. In each of the four major areas, the data reveal the economic shortfalls of the Bush Administration. Click here to read the entire document.

Bush Education Funding Fails the Test
October 20, 2004 -- A careful examination of President Bush's record shows that, despite his claims, he has failed to make education funding a priority. The attached report outlines how the President's budget fails to support students in elementary and secondary education, special education, and higher education. Click here to read the report.

The Sales Tax and the Myth of Falling Prices
October 18, 2004 -- Extensive analysis by non-partisan economic scholars has shown conclusively that replacing existing federal taxes with a national sales tax, beyond being administratively infeasible, would be patently unfair. Working families would pay much more in tax, while the very wealthiest Americans would have their tax burdens cut by more than half. In the name of increasing the incentive for working people to save more, Republicans would increase their share of the tax load so much that they would not be able to save at all.Click here to read more about a national sales tax.

Administration Announces 2004 Deficit an All-Time Record
October 14, 2004 --Today the Administration announced that the 2004 deficit is the largest in history — $413 billion — breaking last year's record $377 billion deficit by $36 billion. This announcement is the latest in a long series of troubling news items about the budget. Just this morning, the Administration announced that rising debt has hit the statutory limit for the third time in three years. The Administration may attempt to tout today's numbers as somehow representing an "improvement" over the inaccurate estimates that it offered earlier in the year. But there is simply no credible way to represent the largest deficit in history as good news. Click here to read more about the new deficit numbers.

Treasury Announces Debt Ceiling Has Been Hit Again
October 14, 2004 --Today the Treasury Department announced that the statutory debt ceiling has been reached, and that the Secretary of the Treasury can avoid default only by undertaking extraordinary actions. This development marks the third time in three years that the government has run up so much debt that it has hit the legal debt ceiling. Meanwhile, House and Senate Republican leadership decided to adjourn without voting to raise the debt ceiling — despite an August 2 letter from the Secretary of Treasury notifying Congress that the debt limit was critically close and that immediate action was essential. Click here to read the entire document.

Setting the Supply-Side Record Straight
October 13, 2004 -- Those who believe that we can enact large tax cuts and balance the budget at the same time often point to the 1980s for justification. Never mind that the 1980s produced the largest budget deficits to that point in history. The argument is that the economy was extraordinarily strong, and that revenues poured into the Treasury. Without excessive growth of domestic spending, the argument goes, the budget would have been balanced. It would be good news if the nation could cut taxes and enjoy higher revenues at the same time. However, the record of supply-side tax cuts falls short. Click here to read the entire document on setting the record straight.

Disappointing Jobs Report
October 8, 2004 -- Today the Labor Department announced that the U.S. economy added only 96,000 jobs in September, well below the increase expected. The unemployment rate in September remained at 5.4 percent. Today's disappointing jobs report is a reminder that we are creating jobs, but not enough to accommodate the day-by-day growth in our adult population. Click here to read the entire document.

Despite Supply-Side Claims, Revenues are Down
October 8, 2004 -- Defying history, supply-side economics is back. Advocates of large tax cuts, disproportionately targeted to those who need the help the least, are claiming budgetary success for their forays of the last four years. Click here to read more about supply-side claims.

Department of Defense Tapped FY 2005 War Reserve Early
October 8, 2004 -- Reuters reported on September 21 that the Department of Defense (DoD) already had obligated $2 billion of the $25 billion war reserve that was passed in the 2005 defense appropriations bill to mitigate funding shortfalls. This is despite the Administration's repeated claims that it had sufficient funds to finance its war requirements through the end of fiscal year 2004 without the new money. Click here to read more about how the DoD Tapped FY 2005 War Reserve Early.

9/11 and Iraq War Costs are Not Primary Cause of Deficits
October 8, 2004 -- When President Bush took office in January 2001, he inherited a projected cumulative surplus of $5.6 trillion for 2002 through 2011. Now these surpluses have been replaced by deficits for as far as the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) forecasts. This unprecedented turn in federal finances begs the question: What caused it? Click here to read more about 9/11 and Cause of Deficits.

Adjournment Package
A Reflection of Unfinished Business the Republican Leadership has Left Behind.
October 7, 2004 -- The national debt threatens to breach the statutory limit, deficits soar to record levels, appropriations bills languish, budget enforcement mechanisms have expired, yet congressional Republicans fail to remedy their misplaced priorities or plot a course toward improvement. Click here to read the complete Adjournment Package.

No Happy Fiscal New Year: Republicans' Complete Budget Breakdown
October 1, 2004 --Today is the beginning of the new fiscal year and Republicans have failed to do their job, by neglecting to pass almost every key budget-related bill. This neglect of their budget responsibilities reflects the pattern Republicans began this spring, when they were incapable of passing a conference report on the 2005 budget resolution. With the arrival of the new fiscal year, the deficiencies in the Republican budget record become more glaring, as their record reflects. Click here to read more about Republicans' Complete Budget Breakdown.

A National Retail Sales Tax: Right-Wing Dream Tax Is Wrong Tax for Most Americans
September 29, 2004 --President Bush believes that a national sales tax is “an interesting idea that we ought to explore seriously.” It would lower, if not eliminate, taxes on income from wealth, and while working Americans would take up the slack and pay dearly, proponents hope that the lure of ending the income tax would distract attention from the real impact of a sales tax. If people understood the true impact of a national sales tax, the vast majority would reject it outright. Click here to read more about A National Sales Tax.

Frequently Asked Questions About the Federal Budget
September 28, 2004 --The Congressional Budget Office released new budget estimates this month, as well as a new estimate of the President’s full agenda. With these new figures, CBO confirms that the surpluses the Bush Administration inherited in 2001 have become record deficits, and Republican fiscal policies have had a disastrous effect on the nation’s bottom line. Click here to read “Frequently Asked Questions About the Federal Budget,” which answers common questions about the national budget.

Grow Our Way Out of the Debt Problem?
Republican Policy Record Says No.
September 28, 2004 -- Continuing large deficits and a mushrooming national debt raise serious public concern. Republicans respond by urging that we stick with the policies that caused these problems. Just keep cutting taxes, they say, and the economy will grow so fast that the deficit and debt problems will just melt away.Click here to read more about Republican Policy Record.

Republican Deficits Climb to Record Levels
September 28, 2004 -- Republicans control the House, the Senate, and the White House, but they have failed to control the budget. Every year on their watch, the bottom line of the budget has gotten worse, and CBO has confirmed that there are no prospects for bringing the budget back to balance under Republican fiscal policies. In three years, a projected surplus of $5.6 trillion has been turned into a projected deficit of $3.3 trillion — an $8.9 trillion reversal. As a result, the Bush Administration has asked the Congress to raise the debt ceiling for the third time in four years. In addition, the 2004 deficit will be the largest in history, $422 billion, breaking last year's record by $47 billion.Click here to read more about Republican Deficits.

New CBO Analysis Shows Administration Policies Create Large and Sustained Deficits
September 23, 2004 -- Today the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a new analysis with numbers confirming that this Administration's policies call for a record deficit this year and large deficits for as far as the eye can see. Today's analysis provides helpful information and a sobering fiscal context as Congress continues its consideration of the Administration's policy proposals. Click here to read more about the New CBO Analysis.

President's Budget Promises: Which Will He Break?
September 21, 2004 -- Earlier this month, the Washington Post reported that the cost of the President's promised agenda is approximately $3 trillion over the next decade. Indeed, at the Republican convention, the President vowed that if he is re-elected, he will privatize Social Security (at a cost of at least $1 trillion over the first ten years, with lots more to follow), make permanent all his tax cuts (with a ten-year cost of $1.1 trillion), and increase funding for education, job training, and community health centers. All these promises fly in the face of the President's earlier pledge to cut the deficit in half in five years. Click here to read more about the President's Budget Promises.

Reality Bites: Why Younger Generations Should Be Concerned About the Deficit
September 13, 2004 -- CBO estimates that the federal deficit will reach $422 billion in fiscal year 2004 - that’s 132,000 times what the average 30-year-old will earn in his or her lifetime. Many younger Americans may view the federal deficit and debt as far removed from issues they face in their daily lives, but the government’s deficits and growing debt are important to young adults because today’s fiscal mismanagement will directly affect the quality of their lives in years to come. Click here to read the entire report or here for more information about the forum sponsored by House Budget Committee Democrats.

Republican Deficits Climb to Record Levels:
Summary and Analysis of CBO's Updated Budget and Economic Outlook
September 7, 2004 -- CBO’s report confirms that the long-term budget outlook is bleak, with no prospects for bringing the budget back to balance under Republican fiscal policies. The $5.6 trillion projected ten-year surplus inherited by the Bush Administration is gone, replaced by large annual deficits for as far as the eye can see when Republican policies are factored into the forecast.Click here to read more about the new CBO budget and economic outlook.

Alarm on the Debt Limit
August 5, 2004 -- The Secretary of Treasury, John W. Snow, has warned Congress that the national debt will breach its statutory limit "between late September 2004 and early October 2004" unless the ceiling is raised. The Secretary is required by law to give such notice so that he can take cash from selected government trust funds when his authority to borrow is exhausted. Click here to read the full document.

The Mid-Session Review:
Deficits Are Back, and They’re Worse Than Before
July 30, 2004 -- The Administration announced today that the 2004 deficit will be the largest in history - $445 billion - shattering last year’s record $375 billion deficit by $70 billion. Under the Administration’s policies, the budget never reaches balance, and the picture is likely to be even worse when the full cost of some omitted items are included in the projections. This year’s $445 billion deficit is also considerably worse than what the Administration projected this year’s deficit would be when it issued forecasts in 2001, 2002, and 2003. Click here to read the full report.

The FY 2005 Defense Appropriations Bill Provides Insufficient Funds For Full Year’s Cost of Iraq/Afghanistan Operations
June 22, 2004-- The House version of the FY 2005 Defense Appropriations Bill, which goes to the floor on Tuesday, June 22, 2004, provides only $25 billion for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. This amount is only about one third of what the Department of Defense (DoD) will need for the entire year and is intended to serve only as a reserve fund to carry DoD through the first few months of the fiscal year. DoD will have to submit an emergency supplemental appropriation request early in calendar year 2005 to fully fund its war requirements. Based on analysis performed by the House Budget Committee Democratic staff in May 2004, DoD will need $40 billion to $55 billion in addition to the $25 billion next year (for a total of $65 billion to $80 billion). Click here to read the full report.

Flawed Budget Process Legislation Expected on Floor
June 17, 2004-- As early as next week, the House may consider H.R. 3973, the Spending Control Act of 2004. This budget process bill reportedly is being brought to the floor at least in part to fulfill a pledge made by the Republican leadership to encourage reluctant conservative Republicans to vote in favor of this year’s budget resolution. Democrats support strong and effective budget enforcement rules, but the unfortunate reality is that this bill proposes rules that likely would worsen the deficit rather than improve it. Click here to read the entire document.

Looming Budget Cuts in 2006 Budget
June 1, 2004 -- A May 19 White House memorandum has now confirmed that the President's budget for 2006 will impose significant cuts in many important government services. (A House Budget Committee Democratic report described these cuts, which the White House disavowed at the time, in a February 19 analysis, "The Administration's Hidden Budget: Cuts in Programs for 2005 and Beyond"). These impending cuts should come as no great surprise. They are a direct result of the Administration's oversized tax cuts, the record high deficits the Bush policies have generated, and the Administration's stated desire to "shrink" the size of government. Click here to read the entire document

Administration's $25 Billion Request for Iraq and Afghanistan Operations Will Cover Only a Fraction of the FY2005 Costs
May 11, 2004 -- The Administration’s $25 billion request for fiscal year 2005 to finance military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan will fall short of what is required by $40 billion to $55 billion, according to the attached report by the House Budget Committee Democratic staff. At first glance, the Administration’s request is a step forward, better than the President’s February budget, which contained no funds for these operations. But a closer look reveals that the requested amount will cover just a fraction of what is needed for fiscal year 2005. According to the report, the cost of the operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and of enhanced security here at home will be $65 billion to $80 billion for fiscal year 2005. The size of the request will require the Administration to submit another supplemental request before March of next year. Click here to read the full report.

Summary and Analysis of the President's 2005 Budget: Unfair and Unbalanced
February 6, 2004 -- The President’s 2005 budget projects a deficit increase of almost 50 percent this year and then makes the lame promise that the deficit will be cut in half over five years. It’s hard to take this claim seriously, coming from an administration that has presided over a $648 billion increase in the deficit since 2001 and added $1.7 trillion to our national debt.

These huge deficits are not just a bookkeeping problem. They are a moral problem because our children and grandchildren will be forced to repay the record amounts of debt we are borrowing today. The Administration has dismissed these deficits as “manageable,” but chronic deficits threaten our economic strength by crowding out private investment, driving up interest rates, and slowing economic growth. Click here to read our long summary and analysis on the President's 2005 Budget.

(note: this document has been updated as of March 2, 2004)

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