Washington Post: The Fact Checker on the 2012 federal budget

[alp227]

The 1994 midterm election ushered in the Republican revolution led by House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.). An immediate priority of the new Congress was eliminating billions of dollars from the existing year's budget - about $16 billion in cuts, or about 3 percent of overall discretionary spending.

During the first two years of Clinton's presidency, Democrats had passed a deficit-reduction bill that included tax cuts for the working poor and tax increases on wealthy Americans, but few spending cuts - and it earned not a single Republican vote. The now-in-power Republicans vowed to pass a balanced budget, and Clinton responded with a budget that essentially dared them to go first. The 1996 budget blueprint claimed that Clinton would streamline or eliminate 400 government programs, resulting in savings of $144 billion over five years. He left untouched most of the mandatory spending programs. The result was a "sustainable" path of $200 billion in deficits as far as the eye could see.

Clinton also used some sleight of hand to achieve his claimed savings. He deferred much of the cuts until later in the five-year window - and assumed somewhat higher inflation and growth than most analysts expected, allowing him to claim cuts from a higher baseline.

Clinton's goal was to goad the Republicans into taking the painful first steps toward cutting programs. By the end of the year, the clashing visions of the two parties led to the epic three-week government showdown, which resurrected Clinton's presidency. But the battle (and a gusher of tax revenues from a booming economy) also set the stage for an eventual balanced-budget deal.

Fast forward to 2011. House Republicans are pressing forward with a plan to slice $100 billion from this year's budget, which, as a percentage of the discretionary budget, is about double the size of the $16 billion sought (and achieved) by the 1995 Republicans. Obama has responded with a budget plan that looks suspiciously like the Clinton budget for fiscal 1996.

Full article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/14/AR2011021405814_pf.html

[Clio the Leo]

1. kick nt

[Avant Guardian]

2. Clinton realized that the deficits were caused by tax cuts

Reversing them reversed the deficit. The CBO has stated multiple times that getting rid of ALL the Bush tax cuts would balance the budget in a few short years. It is that simple.