Sep 26, 2010
Fact Check: Despite Boehner’s Rhetoric, Republicans Oversaw Significant Government Expansion
On Fox News Sunday, Republican Leader John Boehner repeatedly claimed that Republicans would pursue “a smaller, less costly and more accountable government.” However, the Republican record is clear: expanding government, squandering budget surpluses and growing the national debt.
As Senator John McCain said in 2008, Republicans “have now presided over the largest increase in the size of government since the Great Society.” Republicans expanded Medicare by $1.2 trillion and didn’t pay for it. And, Republicans drove the country from a record surplus to a record deficit while increasing the national debt by nearly $5 trillion.
As Republican Leader John Boehner said on Thursday, “We are not going to be any different than what we’ve been.”
Background
On Fox News Sunday, Republican Leader John Boehner said “With this document, we make pretty clear where we are going: We’re going to drive for a smaller, less costly and more accountable government” [Fox News Sunday, 9/26/10]
On Thursday, discussing their Pledge, Boehner of Republicans: “We are not going to be any different than we’ve been” [Boehner Remarks, 9/23/10]
In 2008, Senator McCain said, “We have now presided over the largest increase in the size of government since the Great Society.” And the Washington Times wrote, “George W. Bush rode into Washington almost eight years ago astride the horse of smaller government. He will leave it this winter having overseen the biggest federal budget expansion since Franklin Delano Roosevelt seven decades ago.” [Washington Times, 10/19/08]
The creation of the Medicare prescription drug program cost more than $1.2 trillion. [Washington Post, 2/9/05]
In 2000, as President Bill Clinton was leaving office, the country had a $230 billion surplus. By January of 2009, the Congressional Budget Office projected an annual deficit of $1.2 trillion. [CNN, 9/27/00; CNN, 1/7/09]
On January 19, 2001 as Republicans took control, the national debt was $5,727,776,738,304. By January 20, 2009 when Republican President George Bush left office, the national debt was $10,626,877,048,913. [US Treasury]
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