The bucks don’t stop

Although President Bush has presided over significant growth in federal spending, Congress routinely added to every budget he proposed in the last five years. On average, the extra spending totaled $80billion a year, including supplemental appropriations for Iraq, Afghanistan and national disasters. By contrast, Congress routinely authorized less spending than President Clinton wanted. So although Bush’s proposed 2007 budget requests the second-largest spending increase in a decade, look for Congress to up the ante.