Budget Battle 1995
by Darrin Barker November 10, 2014
Intro
Divisiveness in politics is a common discussion. There is no doubt a historically massive void exists between the two political parties. I can make a very strong argument the origins of this growing riff gouged open 20 years ago. The political battle over the fiscal year 1996 budget (Oct 1, 1995 to Sept 30, 1996) forever changed the tone of political discourse in modern America. Rhetoric that became nastier and more personal than any seen in two generations. Ironically, the results of this malicious battle were four years of budget surplus and the creation of conservative television news.
The Takeover
In November 1994 republicans won the House of Representatives for the first time since 1955. Democrats had held the majority for forty straight years and 60 out of the previous 64 years. To say that democrats felt ownership of Congress may be a serious understatement. But leadership was eventually brought down by their own self-serving elitism. The House banking scandal of 1992 exposed the criminal operation Congress had become. Elected representatives were cashing personal checks on the taxpayer dime without oversight or consequence. This was not the only abusive actions taking place. Committee meetings were being closed to the public while members sent in assistants to proxy vote. House democrats were running a scam to avoid campaign finance laws. Big donors purchased pallets full of books filled with empty pages at inflated prices generating de facto campaign contributions.
Baseline Budgeting
Yet all these shady practices taking place were insignificant in comparison to the adopted system of baseline budgeting. The Baseline Budgeting Act of 1974 introduced the system of an automatic yearly increase for every budget item. This bypassed the need for any Congressional member to go on record supporting deficit spending. Under the implemented system a ‘budget cut’ is redefined as any reduction of scheduled increase. By 1995 two decades of autopilot budget increases had exploded the national debt all while concealing elected representatives from any accountability. To further hide responsibility democrats implemented a propaganda blitz placing blame on Reagan tax cuts for their own overspending. Verifiable data demonstrates federal revenues continued growing at twice the rate of inflation despite rate reductions. But national media fell in line with liberal misinformation helping launch Bill Clinton and his tax raising policies into the Whitehouse. Two years later the Gingrich led 104th Congress was determined to end this nation-weakening spending spree while finally telling the truth about tax cuts.
New Kids in Town
Imagine being relegated to the guest bedroom of a house you have owned for forty years. The democrats viewed the Republican victory as a coup; a hostile takeover; an enemy invasion. Anything and everything proposed by the Newt Gingrich led House of Representatives was met with utter hatred. With mixed success the republicans went on voting every item in the 'Contract with America' regardless of hostile press coverage. The left-wing wrath hit new highs when the federal budget came up for vote. The ensuing battle lasted over a year including three Presidential vetoes and four short-term government shutdowns.
The Proposal
The existing fiscal year 1995 budget totaled $1.52 trillion. Current 1995 baseline budgeting (blue) was scheduled to increase $150 billion per year up to $2.57 trillion in 2002. In March 1995 the newly elected republicans voted in an annual increase (red) of only $112 billion per year over the next seven years. The resulting $2.31 trillion 2002 budget would be balanced according to the Congressional Budget Office and still increase spending at twice the rate of inflation (green). Democrats certainly had the obligation to argue their own budget priorities. Parliamentary negotiations on line items should have taken place. But democrats had no interest in negotiation. Instead, they turned to the sympathetic media microphones attacking republicans in a vicious and personal fashion.
Campaign of Misinformation
"What I have to say today is clear and simple. Under the cover of balancing the budget, the Republican Congress is going after the essential environmental protections that have guaranteed the health and safety of all Americans for a long time now. And I am determined to stop them. This budget will mean dirtier water, more smog, more illness, and a diminished quality of life."
President Clinton- November 1995
"What is being done to our society -- the torture and the maiming of our society -- is incomprehensible."
Rep. Major Owens(D) NY- March 1995
"The most despicable, mean-spirited legislative proposal I have seen in all my years of public service."
Howard Dean(D) Vermont Governor- March 1995
"The reason they're trying to slow the rate of increase in the program, I suppose, is because eventually they'd like to see the program just die and go away. You know, that's probably what they'd like to see happen to seniors, too, if you think about it."
Mike McCurryWhite House Spokesman- September 1995
"GOP! Get Old People! . . . You're a bunch of dictators, that's all you are. I had to fight you guys 50 years ago."
Rep. Sam Gibbons(D) FL- September 1995
"This is really like parents who are taking their kids' lunch money in order to have a night on the town."
Lean PanettaWhite House Chief of Staff- April 1995
"Republicans are taking food out of the mouths of starving children in order to pay for tax cuts for the rich."
Richard Gephardt(D) House Minority Leader- March 1995
"What's next? Castration? Sterilization?"
Rep. William Clay, Sr(D) MO- March 1995
"They are comin' for our children! They are comin' for the poor! They are comin' for the sick, the elderly, and the disabled!"
Rep. John Lewis(D) GA- March 1995
"School lunches have always been seen by both Democrats and Republicans as an essential part of student education. Unfortunately, this year, some members of the new Congress have decided that cutting this program would be a good way of cutting government spending and financing tax cuts for upper-income Americans."
President Clinton(While sharing lunch with 5 elementary students in a photo op at Patrick Henry Elementary in Alexandria, VA)- March 1995
Important to remember while reading all of the above quotes - these are comments about a budget proposal that increased spending over twice the rate of inflation. Newly elected republicans were accused of starving children, killing grandma, destroying the environment, and impoverishing black Americans. The federal school lunch program, a particular budget item democrats felt they could exploit, would increase by 3.1% per year under the republican budget. Under baseline budgeting it was scheduled to increase by 5.3%. But no mention of actual details ever took place in the partisan national press. Rather, just an endless line of ruthless democratic name-calling. And after President Clinton vetoed three versions of the bill – the national media dutifully teamed up with democrats placing all blame for government shutdowns on the GOP. Shows like 60-Minutes did an endless line of stories about government workers who would not be able to afford Thanksgiving turkey. Repulsive ‘journalists’ went into schools asking children what they thought about the republican plan to eliminate hot lunches. Of course, it were all misinformation. No family ever missed a paycheck. Government shutdown, In reality, only resulted in extended paid vacations for non-essential federal workers.
Budget Agreement
President Clinton claimed the seven-year deal were extreme and dangerous. He said it would cause great financial pain to American families. Clinton then proposed his own ten-year balanced budget bill. Republicans stood their ground. Leadership would not support any bill that did not balance in seven years or less. From there ensued an eleven month propaganda battle with national news networks behaving like an arm of the DNC. Without a doubt the liberal left won the publicity battle. Once the republican brand had been thoroughly destroyed Clinton went ahead and signed the seven-year balanced budget plan getting it off the table just in time for the 1996 presidential election.
The Results
Years later when budget surpluses materialized Bill Clinton was celebrated by the national press as an economic genius. The partisan news media turned to 1993 tax increases as the cause for balanced budgets. Republicans stood strong on their principles during a year-long barrage of media annihilation all to achieve a balanced budget for the first time since 1969. Not only were they never credited for taking part in the oncoming budget surplus, but along the way they were branded as heartless, sexist, racist, evil politicians who would throw grandma out in the street just to give tax breaks to millionaires. Democrats learned that personal insults are fair game and work quite well. Republicans discovered no good deed goes unpunished. The astonishingly bias media left nearly half this country yearning for honesty and fairness over the airwaves. The budget battle of 1995 is not only a facilitator of contemptuous political discourse, but also stimulated the formation of Fox News.
