Fiscal Control Quotes
See {617208} his grandfather’s related statement.
President Jefferson in 1803, in the first instance of presidential impoundment, deferred for a few months the building of gunboats for which Congress had appropriated funds. In 1876 the President actually refused to spend the congressionally appropriated funds for river and harbor improvements in the midst of bad economic times:
By the time the debt ceiling needs a Congressional vote, the money has already been obligated and spent. That is when Congress can control spending. The debt ceiling is ALWAYS increased by Congress when asked otherwise the U. S. would not be able to pay its bills. However, many members of Congress like the fact that every year or so the administration needs their votes so they can extract benefits for their constituents more easily with that leverage.
Although Reagan vetoed some spending that he disapproved of, he wanted so much spending on his favorite programs that he not only never brought the budget under control but his spending created the largest deficit in American history -- until George W. Bush squandered the Clinton surplus and exceeded Regan’s spending greatly and left President Obama with the greatest budget deficit in world history and a collapsing economy. Ironically, despite the fact that Reagan ran up huge deficits for the time, he always verbally advocated balanced budgets and many people in the country were persuaded by Reagan of the importance of balanced budgets. It was President Clinton who balanced the budget and eliminated the Reagan deficits.
