Bob Noel wrote:

In article Co%Ub.109492$U%5.567596@attbi_s03,
wrote:


Yes, Congress passes appropriations bills,


I'm happy to see that you realize that. but of course, you go on
to ignore it.

but the reality during recent
history has been that the budget submitted by the president shapes the
debate and the final totals are seldom far from those sent over from the
executive branch although there are frequently considerable changes in
individual projects and departments.


WHAT?! during the Reagan years, the democracts would gleefully proclaim
that the President's submission was DOA. They would claim he was
cutting the budget for certain line items when in fact his submission
had increases for those items (but not as much as they wanted).

During the Reagan administration, Congress appropriated $1.29 (iirc)
for every new dollar of tax revenue.

Which was still slightly *less* overall than Reagan had asked them to
appropriate (as was pointed out in the part you snipped), just not for
exactly the same programs.

Both major parties love to increase spending, albeit in slightly
different
directions. But the impact on the deficit has been greatest under
Republican administrations.


when something occurs during an administration, it is important
to understand the cause.

And when there is consistently the same trend in one Republican
administration after another it's important to recognize the correlation.