There appears to be a lot of "civically challenged" people on C-D that are not aware how their own government functions. Any time your see posts that blames a President for acts of Congress, you are seeing someone who is civically ignorant. Particularly when it comes to spending. Presidents do not spend, Congress spends. If you do not believe me see:
Quote:
All bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills.
Source: Article I, Section 7, Clause 1 of the US Constitution
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This is when the naysayers pop-up and assert that the President signs those spending bills. That is not entirely true. Presidents do regularly sign bills into law. However, even if a President did not sign a bill into law it still becomes law
automatically after 10 calendar days (excluding Sundays) while Congress is still in session. If you do not believe me see:
Quote:
If any Bill shall not be returned by the President within ten Days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the Same shall be a Law, in like Manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their Adjournment prevent its Return, in which Case it shall not be a Law.
Source: Last Sentence from Article I, Section 7, Clause 2 of the US Constitution
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Budgets are always for the following fiscal year. Which means that the budget Congress enacted in 1989 was for fiscal year 1990, for example. So when Bush 41 was elected in November 1988, and became President in January 1989, his very first proposed budget would have been for fiscal year 1990.
Since there is always contention with some as to what is "off-budget" and what is "on-budget", I used the total National Debt instead. That means it also includes the intra-governmental portion of the debt, in addition to the publicly held portion of the debt. It will also include all spending for every war or every other non-budgetary item Congress concocts.
The above chart shows the total National Debt as a percentage of the GDP, and it also shows who controlled Congress during this period.
When Clinton was elected in November 1992, and became President in January 1993 he had to live with the budget enacted by the previous session of Congress. Clinton's very first proposed budget was for the fiscal year 1994.
The dip during the 1990s was not a result of surplus. It was the result of an increasing GDP. Spending continued to increase, just not nearly as much when compared to the increase in the GDP.
From June 2001 through December 2002 Congress was split. The GOP controlled the House, and the Democrats controlled the Senate. Which means that in both the GOP and Democrats came up with the 2002 and 2003 fiscal year budgets.
The following data was used to create the above graph:
Hopefully, this thread will prevent most people from embarrassing themselves by crediting or blaming Presidents for acts of Congress. I am absolutely certain that some will cling to their ignorance, insisting that Presidents are omnipotent beings deserving of our blame regardless of what goes wrong, or our credit regardless of what goes right. But those people are fools and should be mocked for not knowing how their own government functions.
Congress, primarily the House but also the Senate, deserve either blame or credit for the budgets they enact, not the President. Yes, the President does propose a budget (a recent tradition that began with President Wilson). And yes, the President can veto parts or all of the budget. However, no President gets what he wants, even when their own party is in control, and no President is going to veto a bill that has a veto-proof majority coming out of Congress.
There are a total of twelve appropriation bills that constitute the US budget, and the President may veto any one of them, all of them, or any combination thereof. It is a mistake, however, to assume that just because a President signs a bill into law that he actually supports the law.
Remember, despite the even dumber mainstream media (including Fox), there is no such thing as either the "Bush Tax Cuts" or "ObamaCare." In 2001 Congress, not Bush, enacted the tax cuts. In 2010 Congress, not Obama, enacted the Affordable Health Care Act.
If we do not know how our own government functions, then what hope is there that any problem can be fixed? We need to be more civically aware so that we can correctly identity who is responsible for either the credit or blame. Blaming the President for everything under the sun is childish, at the very least, and woefully ignorant at worst.
If you are intent on blaming the President, at least do so for the areas he is responsible, such as foreign policy or the way the military is being treated, or their nominations and appointments, etc., etc. But do NOT blame them for the federal budget.
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