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A Daily Chronicle of Bush Administration Distortion February 3, 2004
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Bush Misleads Public About Cause of Deficit



On the same day the White House unveiled its 2005 budget, President Bush calculatingly obscured the reason the nation now faces a record $500 billion deficit. He said, "The reason we are where we are, in terms of the deficit, is because we went through a recession, we were attacked, and we're fighting a war."1

But according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, the single biggest cause of the deficit is the president's massive tax cuts for the wealthy -- which he conveniently did not mention. Specifically, 36% of the deficit comes from the tax cuts, while only 31% comes from defense/war-related spending increases, and the rest comes from the economic slowdown.2 In fact the president actually acknowledged in last year's budget that the deficit is primarily his fault. Table S-3 of Bush's 2004 budget "shows unambiguously that the administration's fiscal 2004 budget proposes a massive annual increase in the deficit" and that without those proposals the nation would return to surplus.3 In other words, the president is falsely invoking national security, the terrorist attacks of 9/11, and the war in Iraq to hide the fact that his tax cuts for the wealthy have created the largest deficit in American history.

With 88% of Americans now believing that the deficit is a "very serious" or "somewhat serious problem," the president has also tried to blame government spending for the deficit.4 But again, as the CBO notes, spending is at "a lower level than in any year from 1975 through 1996."5 And as the president starves veterans health care6, low-income housing7, and health care programs8 of funding, he is pushing more than $1 trillion in new tax cuts9, primarily for the wealthy.

Sources:
  1. Presidential Remarks, 02/02/2004.
  2. WILL THE PRESIDENT’S 2005 BUDGET REALLY CUT THE DEFICIT IN HALF?, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 01/16/2004.
  3. Secrets of S-3, GovExec.com, 02/12/2003.
  4. Kerry tops all Dems and leads Bush by 8 points, Nationwide poll by Quinnipiac University finds; President’s approval below 50 percent for first time, Quinnipac University, 02/02/2004.
  5. CBO FIGURES INDICATE LOWER REVENUES, NOT HIGHER SPENDING, ACCOUNT FOR THE LARGE DEFICIT, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 01/26/2004.
  6. VFW Terms President's VA Budget Proposal Harmful to Veterans; VFW Appeals to Congress for Relief, Veterans of Foreign Wars, 02/02/2004.
  7. ANALYSIS OF THE PRESIDENT'S NEW BUDGET , Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 02/02/2004.
  8. President's FY 2005 Budget Sells Health Services Research Short, Says Coalition for Health Services Research, US Newswire, 02/03/2004.
  9. Tax cuts remain in Bush's budget, Lansing State Journal, 02/03/2004.



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