For all of Mr. Bush's talk about fiscal prudence, $23 billion is only about 2.5 percent of the discretionary spending proposed by Congress for 2008. When it comes to really big money — for wars and tax cuts — Mr. Bush wants more, not less. He is demanding an additional $40 billion for the Pentagon, bringing the national defense budget to $504 billion — over half of Congress's total discretionary budget.

As for the Bush tax cuts, in 2008 they will put some $100 billion into the pockets of the richest Americans. That giveaway will require the government to borrow to make up for the forgone revenue.

Yet, Mr. Bush calls for no restraint on tax cuts. Just the opposite. His administration's biggest criticism of Congress's budget is that it includes a "pay-go" rule requiring future tax cuts to be paid for, either by pairing them with tax increases or with cuts in entitlement spending.

Unable to brook even the possibility that taxes may someday have to go up, Mr. Bush proposes to offset future new spending on Medicare, Social Security and other big entitlements through cuts in other entitlement programs. That would guarantee deeper cuts than would otherwise be required. The Bush budget strategy boils down to never-ending tax cuts for the rich, big increases for the Pentagon and spending cuts for everything else.

When it's suggested that Mr. Bush's approach is overly harsh, the White House insists that the president has other generous impulses. Last February, they note, he recommended that Congress provide more money in 2008 for such areas as international affairs, veterans' hospital care, the National Science Foundation and NASA.

But that brings us back to his veto threat. If he means what he says, Mr. Bush will veto spending by Congress that fails to achieve $10 billion in net cuts, even if those bills include the new money he asked for. The fact remains that Mr. Bush's misguided war and his misguided tax cuts are what stand in the way of responsible, responsive budgeting.

Times editorial 2 June 2007