Tax cuts Stimulus Wars

Votes that pushed us into the red

In the debate over the nation's rising debt, rhetoric trumps reality. In January 2001, the U.S. budget was balanced for the first time in decades and the Congressional Budget Office was forecasting surpluses totaling $5.6 trillion by 2011. A decade later, the national debt is larger, as a percentage of the economy, than at any time in U.S. history except for the period shortly after World War II.

So what happened?

The impact of three policies

on the federal debt Shown as a percent of GDP

In classic Washington style, neither party wants to take responsibility. “Washington has a spending problem, not a revenue problem,” House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said in April.

“Republicans made the contradictory promises that cutting taxes would lead to higher revenues and would force lower spending,” House Minority Leader Steny Hoyer shot back in a speech later the same month. “They did neither.”

The reality falls somewhere in between. In fact, 75 percent of the members currently serving in Congress voted for at least one — and in most cases more than one — of three policies that contributed to fully one-third of the $12.7 trillion swing from projected surpluses to real debt: President George W. Bush's 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, funding for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and President Obama's 2009 stimulus bill.

A new take on the overlapping priorities that led us to record deficits, and who voted for them.

House

Senate Roll over for names of the 310 members who voted for these measures that remain in the House



Voted only for wars

(Voted for at least two supplemental appropriations bills to fund the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq during Bush's last two years in office or Obama's first two years.) Voted only

for stimulus

(Voted for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, also known as the stimulus bill.) Voted for wars

and stimulus Voted only for

tax cuts

(Voted for at least one of the two tax-cut measures enacted in 2001 and 2003, known as the Bush tax cuts.) Voted for wars

and tax cuts None Voted for

stimulus

and tax cuts None Voted for

all three

policies “Our troops in combat deserve to be sent the resources and the

reinforcements

that they

deserve to succeed

in their mission in

Iraq without strings and

without delay.”

- Michelle Bachmann

(R-Minn.), April 25, 2007

(Was not in office

during tax-cut votes) “Our troops in combat deserve to be sent the resources and thereinforcementsthat theydeserve to succeedin their mission inIraq without strings andwithout delay.” “What we are simply saying is that rather than take your money and find new ways to spend it for you here in Washington, we want to give it back to the American people.”

- Paul Ryan (R-Wis.),

May 16, 2001 “What we are simply saying is that rather than take your money and find new ways to spend it for you here in Washington, we want to give it back to the American people.” Ron Paul (R-Tex.)



“My commitment to voters is simple: I follow the Constitution and I fight to make government smaller. This committment compels me to vote for all tax cuts and against all spending increases.”

March 30, 2001 “My commitment to voters is simple: I follow the Constitution and I fight to make government smaller. This committment compels me to vote for all tax cuts and against all spending increases.” Rick Larsen (D-Wash.)



“This legislation is not a cure-all, and our country faces difficult times ahead. But the need for aggressive action is clear to shorten the recession and lessen its impact on the American economy.”

Jan. 28, 2009 “This legislation is not a cure-all, and our country faces difficult times ahead. But the need for aggressive action is clear to shorten the recession and lessen its impact on the American economy.” Roll over for names of the 86 current senators who voted for these measures



Voted only for wars

(Voted for at least two supplemental appropriations bills to fund the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq during Bush's last two years in office or in Obama's first two years.) Voted only

for stimulus

(Voted for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, also known as the stimulus bill.) None Voted for wars

and stimulus Voted only for

tax cuts

(Voted for at least one of the two tax-cut measures enacted in 2001 and 2003, known as the Bush tax cuts.) Voted for wars

and tax cuts Voted for

stimulus

and tax cuts None None Voted for

all three

policies

“This jolt to the economy will help us recover from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.”

- Bernard Sanders

(I-Vt.), Feb. 13, 2009 “This jolt to the economy will help us recover from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.” “This bill is about righting wrongs in the tax code that are so flagrant as to transcend partisan rancor...I am proud to say that I believe that this surplus belongs to the American people.”

- Mitch McConnell

(R-Ky.), May 26, 2001 “This bill is about righting wrongs in the tax code that are so flagrant as to transcend partisan rancor...I am proud to say that I believe that this surplus belongs to the American people.” Jim DeMint (R-S.C.)



“Democrats will attempt to end the Bush tax cuts. Doing so violates the rights of individuals to keep their hard-earned money, and it hurts free enterprise.”

March 1, 1007 “Democrats will attempt to end the Bush tax cuts. Doing so violates the rights of individuals to keep their hard-earned money, and it hurts free enterprise.” Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.)



“It seemed an appropriate time to return some of that surplus to taxpayers, just as a business would do when that business was doing well.”

May 14, 2003 “It seemed an appropriate time to return some of that surplus to taxpayers, just as a business would do when that business was doing well.”

House Senate

SOURCE: Pew Fiscal Analysis Initiative, Washington Post Congressional Database.

GRAPHIC: Karen Yourish, Laura Stanton, Hannah Fairfield and Kat Downs - The Washington Post.

Serdar Tumgoren contributed to this report. Published June 4, 2011.