President Bush is heading into 2004 facing a growing budget deficit, frustration among some Republicans about what they see as a lack of fiscal discipline and a challenge in putting together an election-year agenda that will not plunge the government all the deeper into debt, lawmakers, analysts and administration officials say.
The deficit, projected a few months ago to be around $475 billion for the fiscal year that started on Oct. 1, now seems likely to hit $500 billion, up from $374 billion last year. The White House's goal of cutting it at least in half within a few years will be hard to achieve despite the economic rebound and the growth in tax revenue it is expected to generate, budget analysts in the government and on Wall Street say.
Though the administration has said the spending increases are largely a result of a need to strengthen the military and protect against terrorism at home, most of the new spending since 2001, 55 percent, has gone to programs with no link to national security, Mr. Riedl (Brian M. Riedl, a budget analyst at the conservative Heritage Foundation) said.
"The Republican Party," he said, "has grown addicted to federal spending as a means to re-election."
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/29/politics/campaigns/29BUSH.html
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