CATO Institute: Bush Had Largest Rise In Discretionary Nondefense Spending

Another excuse given for the current fed- eral spending binge is that national security needs are driving up the budget. Certainly, defense spending has increased dramatically since the late 1990s, particularly since 9/11. However, Figure 4 shows that discretionary nondefense spending has risen almost as rapidly as defense spending in recent years. The president’s new budget shows that real discretionary defense spending will increase 36 percent between FY2001 and FY2005 and nondefense spending will increase 25 per- cent. These increases are much larger than increases under most recent presidents.



Figure 5 shows the cumulative real discre- tionary nondefense spending increases dur- ing the first terms of recent presidents. Each president’s first year in office is set at a base of 100. Only Lyndon Johnson outpaced President Bush’s spending.