Deficit reduction has been a high priority for us. It is our mantra, pay-as-you-go.
Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), at her final press conference as House Speaker, January 4, 2010, four years to the day that she took the gavel in 2007 and pledged “no new deficit spending.” (via FoxNation) h/t @memorandum
Reality:
The numbers tell a different story:
When the Pelosi Democrats took control of Congress on January 4, 2007, the national debt stood at $8,670,596,242,973.04. The last day of the 111th Congress and Pelosi’s Speakership on December 22, 2010 the national debt was $13,858,529,371,601.09 - a roughly $5.2 trillion increase in just four years. Furthermore, the year over year federal deficit has roughly quadrupled during Pelosi’s four years as speaker, from $342 billion in fiscal year 2007 to an estimated $1.6 trillion at the end of fiscal year 2010.
And via HotAir:
And that doesn’t actually tell the whole story, either. The last budget passed by a Republican Congress spent a total of $2.77 trillion, with a deficit just under $200 billion. Democrats took that in FY2010 — their last actual full-year budget — to over $3.8 trillion, an increase of 38% in just three budget cycles. And when the Democrats finally got around to passing pay-go in their fourth and final year in control of the House, they ended up waiving it in almost every instance afterward.
Just For Reference™
From an earlier post:
Democrats will often blame this on the continued existence of the Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003. However, the CBO reckons that the federal government will only get $4 trillion over the next ten years if all of the Bush tax cuts expire, as they are set to do on December 31 of this year. That ten-year revenue (which is itself highly debatable) still wouldn’t have covered all of the deficit spending Democrats did while in control of Congress in just four years. In fact, at their rate of deficit spending in three budget cycles, Democrats would add almost $15 trillion to the national debt in ten years:
Republicans in control for 12 years: Added $4.034 trillion (avg $336.17 billion per year)
Republicans in control during Bush era: Added $3.201 trillion (avg $533.5 billion per year)
Democrats in control of Congress during Bush/Obama era: Added $4.603 trillion (avg 1.48 trillion per year)
Democrats did not aim to control spending when they took control of Congress. They aimed to expand government at a historic rate, and they succeeded beyond even their wildest dreams. And what happened when Democrats finally got around to passing pay-go, more than three years later? They made more exceptions to it than bills that actually got the pay-go treatment.
This is exactly why voters can’t trust Democrats on spending, deficits, and taxes.
Again, to those that point to the Hastert years, and reprimanding, ask where the Tea Party-type/fiscal hawks were then — they were at the voting booth. When their elected representatives acted irresponsibly, the electorate called them on it.
The electorate, unsurprisingly, did the same on November 2 of last year.
Conclusion:
The last crop of Republicans on spending: Bad.
The last crop of Democrats on spending: Worse.
The new GOP class took over (just) the House yesterday. We’ll see how they do.
I’m not holding my breath, but we’re all watching you. How ‘bout you surprise us, for a change?
Previously:
Debt Has Increased $5 Trillion Since Speaker Pelosi Vowed, ‘No New Deficit Spending’ in 2007
