Spend it Like You Got it

Easy passage by the Senate last week of a $94.5 billion "emergency" supplemental budget, on top of previous approvals of $900 billion of "regular" spending and $50 billion in "supplemental" spending, has Politics Guide Kathy Gill thinking the federal budget system is broken.

"According to the Congressional Budget Office, from fiscal 1995 through fiscal year 2000, all supplemental budgets (net of rescissions) totaled $21 billion. Contrast that with supplemental spending since the start of fiscal 2001, President Bush's first budget: $577 billion," writes Gill. "An average of $96 billion a year under six years of Bush versus an average of $3.3 billion under six years of Clinton."

Also See: The 'Classic' Federal Budget System