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(ALEXANDRIA, VA) -- As Congress completes action on this year's budget resolution with deepening deficits in mind, a new study from the National Taxpayers Union Foundation indicates lawmakers haven't backed up their rhetoric with spending restraint. Just 16 Members of Congress had net agendas to reduce spending, while 129 Representatives and 23 Senators compiled net agendas to increase spending by over $100 billion.

"Taxpayers heard many words from Congress last year about the budget deficit and the mounting costs of military operations, but they saw very few legislative proposals to meaningfully address either of these fiscal concerns," said NTUF Senior Policy Analyst and BillTally study author Demian Brady. "Lawmakers actually added to the pressure by introducing a record amount of spending hikes across the board."

BillTally is a cost accounting system that computes a net annual agenda for each Member of Congress and has done so since 1991. The results are based on each Member's individual sponsorship and cosponsorship of pending legislation. The study offers a unique look at the fiscal behavior of lawmakers, free from the influence of committees, party leaders, and rules surrounding floor votes.

All cost estimates for bills are obtained from third-party sources or calculated from neutral data. Within the First Session 108^th Congress (2003), a large number of bills were identified as having a fiscal impact of at least $1 million (856 in the House and 663 in the Senate). Among the author's findings:

• Under GOP leadership, the lopsided ratio of spending increases to decreases has tipped dangerously off balance at a record 26.6 to 1. When Republicans first grasped power the ratio (nearly 9.6 to 1 in the 102^nd Congress) became more balanced (1.4 to 1 in the 104^th Congress).
• The average House Democrat sponsored or cosponsored legislation that would increase spending by a net $401.6 billion annually, over 13 times higher than the average Republican ($30.7 billion). Both parties posted the highest spending totals ever recorded by BillTally.
• Senate proposals for spending reductions were up from last session, but proposed spending far outweighed them. The net annual agenda of the average Senate Democrat weighed in at $174.1 billion -- the highest level since the 103^rd Congress. The average Senate Republican net agenda reached an all-time record high at $26.1 billion.
• Just 13 Representatives had net agendas to reduce spending, while nearly one-third of all House Members compiled net agendas to increase spending by greater than $100 billion. Of these, 29 had net agendas to increase spending by over a trillion dollars. In the Senate, only three members had net agendas to reduce spending.

Although BillTally focuses on faulty fiscal records in Congress, Brady also observed that President Bush has failed to veto a single spending bill, even after his call for limiting 2003 appropriations to four percent growth fell on deaf ears in Congress (actual growth was 12 percent).

"Both parties are compiling records that would lead the nation toward bigger government," Brady concluded. "The question is how fast will we get there -- or, even more important, will enough Members of Congress step forward to apply the brake?"

NTUF is the research affiliate of the 350,000-member National Taxpayers Union. NTUF Policy Paper 150, Operation Enduring Deficits: Marshalling Taxpayer Dollars into New Programs is available online at www.ntu.org.

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Related Links:

• Click Here for NTUF Policy Paper 150
• Click Here for Additional BillTally Information

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