The U.S. Congress is solely responsible for ALL federal spending. The president proposes a budget, but what actually gets passed is the compromise worked out between the House and Senate.

The U.S. Congress is solely responsible for waging war and funding the military. Blaming G.W.Bush for military actions that have cost us $770 billion in the last 9 years may make anti-war types feel good, but the last two "wars" were ovewhelmingly approved by Congress. The vote to evict the Taliban from Afghanistan was 98-0 (unanimous) in the Senate.

The last year that the U.S. federal government took in more money than it spent was 1959. The Clinton "surplus" is as phoney as the rest of the federal debt numbers. In 2000 we added $17.5 billion to the National Debt. That may be a "balanced budget" in government terms, but it ain't no such thing in the real world. Clinton, at the time, claimed a "surplus of $220 billion" in 2000. There is a name for that out here in the country, we call it...