Judging by the Spending "There is No Recession in Washington"

From Sandra Fabry on Monday, October 26, 2009 9:26 AM

The following is cross-posted at www.fiscalaccountability.org:

If you thought that after the bailouts and the "stimulus" package, lawmakers on the Hill would excercise moderation when it comes to your tax dollars, think again.

As the Wall Street Journal points out today:

(...) House Democrats were moving on a dozen spending bills for fiscal 2010 that total 12.1% in more domestic discretionary increases.

Yes, 12.1%.

Remember, inflation is running close to zero, or 0.8%. The good news, if we can call it that, is that Senate Democrats only want to increase nondefense appropriations by 8% for 2010. Because these funding increases become part of the permanent baseline for future appropriations, the 2010 House budget bills would permanently raise annual outlays for discretionary programs by about $75 billion a year from now until, well, forever.

Concerned yet? Well, that's not all. These numbers exclude the so-called mandatory spending programs like Medicare and Medicaid, both of which saw an explosion of 9.8% and 24.7%, respectively, in FY 2009. Also, agencies were allowed to double-dip, and saw massive increases in their budgets courtesy of the stimulus and the appropriations bills. Consider this:

House Republicans on the Budget Committee added up the 2009 appropriations, the stimulus funding and 2010 budgets and found that federal agencies will, on average, receive a 57% increase in appropriated funds from 2008-2010. By contrast, real family incomes fell by 3.6% last year. There's no recession in Washington.

The conclusion in light of the spending plans Obama, Pelosi and Reid have for taxpayers is sobering:

Democrats must figure that they can get away with this sort of rap because no one will call them on the reality of what they're spending. And they're probably right about a press corps that has ignored the spending boom since Democrats took over Congress in 2006. Meanwhile, the spending machine rolls on, all but guaranteeing monumental future tax increases.

Yes, monumental future tax increases. If you can stomach it, ATR is outlining the first wave in the Senate healthcare bills here.

Photo credit: Mike Desisto

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