George Bush Sr. on Budget & Economy President of the U.S., 1989-1993; Former Republican Rep. (TX)

Profile in Courage for establishing pay-as-you-go rule

The 1990 bipartisan budget agreement set annual limits on discretionary spending by Congress on defense, domestic programs and international affairs. It also, for the first time, created "pay as you go" rules for entitlements and taxes.

In order to reach the deal, Bush agreed to a tax increase as part of the compromise, and he was pilloried by conservatives for doing so. Although he recognized the 1990 budget deal might doom his prospects for reelection, he did what he thought was best for the country and has since been credited with helping to lay the foundation of the economic growth of the 1990s that followed.

OpEd: Bush budget was terrible but Dems budget was worse

In 1989 there was offered on the House floor the President's budget, and the Democrats' rebuttal budget, and the Kasich budget. A budget needs 218 votes out of a possible 435 to win passage, and the party in power always tends to prevail in these things. We voted first on the Democratic budget. They were in the majority at that time, and they received 230 votes. Then we voted on the Bush budget, which received 213 votes, falling just short. The Kasich budget received 30 votes of approval.

Every year I offered my own budget for consideration, and my 3rd or 4th year my budget received more votes than the President got for his budget.

Increased national debt from $3T in 1988 to $4T in 1992

The deficit was the inevitable result of so-called supply-side economics, the theory that the more you cut taxes, the more the economy will grow, with the growth producing more tax revenue at lower tax rates than previously had been collected at higher ones. Of course it didn't work, and the deficits exploded throughout the recovery of the 1980s.

1992 debate: Disconnected on recession's personal effect

Bush: "I'm sure it has. I love my grandchildren. I'm not sure I get... help me with the question."

Q: "Well, I've had friends who've been laid off from their jobs."

Moderator: "I think she means the recession, rather than the deficit."

Bush: "Well, listen, you ought to be in the White House for a day and hear what I hear. I was in an AME Church and I read the bulletin about teenage pregnancies, about the difficulties people are having making ends meet."

After more struggle, it was Clinton's turn--and he asked her, "Tell me how it affected you again?"

The woman was speechless.

1992 growth plan: deregulate & cut taxes

Trickle down government doesn't create jobs

CLINTON: I believe we can increase investment and reduce the deficit, if we not only ask the wealthiest Americans to pay their share; we also provide $100 billion in tax relief and $140 billion of spending cuts. Take money from defense cuts and reinvest it in transportation, communications and environmental clean-up systems.

BUSH: I don't like trickle down government. Clinton says grow government. Government doesn't create jobs. If they do, they're make-work jobs. It's the private sector that creates jobs.

PEROT: We still have a significant deficit under each of their plans. There's only one way out of this, and that is to have a growing job base. My plan balances the budget within 6 years. We didn't do it faster than that because we didn't want to disrupt the economy.

Saw 1992 economy as recovering; public did not

Not interested in spend-spend-spend agenda