The 1995 Contract with America budget actually cut domestic spending for the first time in 10 years. But program cuts rarely stay in place for long, and by the time the Republican Congress embarked on its sophomore budget voyage, all bets were off. In fact, the 106th Congress is well on its way to matching the spending of the late 1970s, when Tip O Neill was speaker of the House and Jimmy Carter was in the Oval Office. Back then, the 95th Congress boosted the non-Defense domestic budget by 12 percent after inflation. Now the 106th Congress is happy to expand it by at least 11 percent after inflation, and that is before the election-year spending spree members are sure to embark upon.
Republicans even brag about their spending.
The fact that they outspent President Clinton on education programs this year was mentioned prominently in the Republicans televised response to Clinton s State of the Union speech in January. Republicans certainly deserve credit for closing programs such as the Travel and Tourism Administration and the Bureau of Mines. Today, many of the programs scheduled for elimination have fatter budgets than when the Democrats controlled Congress. The combined budgets of 95 of the biggest programs on the Contract with America s program-termination list have increased by 13 percent the past five years. This budget growth is remarkable not only in its magnitude but also because of the stark contrast with the budget- cutting going on in the private sector.