Fiscal Responsibility

Bush’s Mismanagement Has Turned Surpluses to Deficits

- President Bush inherited a federal budget surplus of $127 billion in 2001

- The Administration has run a deficit each year since 2001, totaling $1.7 trillion through 2007

- The Administration projects an increase in the deficit to $410 billion in 2008, up from $163 billion in 2007

- $134 billion in spending on the Iraq war made up a large portion of the $163 billion deficit in 2007

The Federal Debt Costs Americans

- Federal debt held by the public exceeded $5 trillion dollars in 2007; a 51% increase from 2001

- The federal government will pay $244 billion dollars in interest payments on the debt in 2008; an average of $2,100 per American household

- Since 45 percent of publicly held debt is held outside of the United States, a large portion of those interest payments are sent abroad