BINGE: Spending 13 Percent Higher Than Obama Through First 2.5 Years of Trump Administration

WASHINGTON, D.C. – While President Barack Obama was in office, Republicans on Capitol Hill couldn’t blast the debt and deficit enough, pledging support for spending reforms and cuts as to not further burden our grandchildren with our profligacy. Yet, when Republicans took control of the purse strings, along with the White House, the calls for spending restraint and tough budget decisions all but vanished.

Now, according to the Treasury Department, the federal government since 2016 has spent 13 percent MORE than was spent during those first two and a half of Obama, which featured TARP, Stimulus, Auto Bail Outs, and Obamacare, among other huge spending splurges.

From Conservative Review:

“[…] During the first 33 full months of the Trump administration – from February 2017 through October 2019 – the federal government has spent roughly $11.762 trillion, according to tabulations of monthly statements from the Treasury Department. If you flash back to the equivalent 33-month period during the beginning of Obama’s first term – from February 2009 through October 2011 – spending was approximately $10.3 trillion. That was the period of all the bank bailouts and the stimulus. That was the period where we saw the expansion of welfare and unemployment benefits. Yet, today, outlays are 13.2 percent higher than the infamous spending binge.

To be fair, if you factor in inflation, the percentage increase is not nearly as dramatic. Using OMB tables expressing the spending figures in constant 2012 numbers, according to my rough calculation, Obama’s tab for the first 33 months would be $10.385 trillion and Trump’s at $10.722. That would be only a 3.2 percent increase. […]”

Federal spending trends get unfairly pinned to presidents, when, even though they can influence big price tag policy, the Congress is ultimately responsible for holding the purse strings. Moreover, the inflation adjustment does matter for context.

Still, only a handful of conservatives in congress have continued to ring the bell on federal spending, but the Swamp at large has resumed its binge. Plus, speaking of context, this deficit spending binge is taking place with employment at historic lows and markets at all time highs. There is no excuse for even approaching Obama era levels of spending, let alone exceeding them under Republican control. If the federal government cannot muster the political will to reel in spending during the best of times, how completely will fiscal restraint be abandoned during the inevitable downturn?

It’s easier for the Establishment to kick the can down the road, raise the debt ceiling, and pump up spending a little bit more. President Trump has previously threatened to veto budget bills that don’t address spending. Let’s hope he, and Republicans on Capitol Hill, follow through on limiting government spending consistent with the conservative platform with tangible proposals for spending reforms in Congress, not just on the campaign trail.

Read more about Washington’s ongoing spending spree here.