CONTROLLING SPENDING REQUIRES CONTROLLING CONGRESS
The media focus has been on the presidential campaign, but the makeup of the U.S. Congress is likely to have an equal or perhaps even greater impact on your future economic well-being.
The president often is blamed for the deficit by folks on both the right and the left, but under the Constitution, it is those in Congress who must approve all taxing and spending, and thus they are directly responsible.
In the 32 years since President Reagan was first elected, the Democrats have controlled both houses of Congress for 12 years, the Republicans controlled both for 10 years, and for 10 years, one party controlled the House and the other party controlled the Senate. The chart below shows the average deficit, government spending and real economic growth (as a percentage of gross domestic product) under Democratic, Republican and split control.
Deficits, on average, were 3 times larger when the Democrats were in control of one or both houses of Congress than when the Republicans had control of both houses. Also, government spending was higher and real economic growth was lower under the Democrats and under split control.