I already did link to facts about education spending (federal education spending is up something like 100% under Bush). I assume you realize that entitlement spending is up year after year. If you really doubt that fact and won't take my word for it I can look it up for you. Entitlement spending is the biggest part of federal social spending.
The increase in entitlements and education are so large that it would probably be impossible for overall social spending to be cut. But other programs have been increased as well.
If you want the direct budget figures they are available online here
gpoaccess.gov
You have to look at different PDF files for different years and perhaps for different programs. But you can check it out and see that what I'm saying is true. Check the budgets for all social programs since bush came to office. The total is up each year. Most major programs are also up each year. The programs that are not up are smaller than Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid (the biggest social programs which are all up), and probably bigger than education (not strictly speaking one program, and not as expensive as social security, but a large category that is up strongly)
If you want links to opinion peices that present facts you can try
aei.org
found at
aei.org
Check the table. Note this figures are real (i.e. infaltion adjusted) spending changes. They don't include some more recent increases and they don't include entitlements but entitlements have also gone up.
Department of Education +67.9%
Health and Human Services + 26.5%
Housing and Urban Development + 6.7%
Vetrens Affairs + 39%
International assistance programs +31.1%
Every category listed has gone up under Bush in real terms. The only other president on the chart (which starts with LBJ) for which this is true is Clinton but his increases where mostly smaller (although he did increase Dept. of Commerce spending by 96.7% after adjusting for inflation).
Federal Spending Soars Under Bush's Watch
by Ron Hutcheson
commondreams.org
WASHINGTON - Three growing entitlement programs consumed nearly half of all federal spending in 2004, and budget analysts expect them to make up an even bigger share in the future.
Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid accounted for more than $1 trillion in the 2004 budget year, according to the Consolidated Federal Funds Report released Tuesday by the Census Bureau.
Overall federal spending was $2.2 trillion, an increase of 5 percent from 2003.
“The total federal spending increase is actually down a bit from recent years,” said Gerard Keffer, chief of the Census Bureau’s federal programs branch. “It had been running 6 to 8 percent in the past several years.”
For years, Washington has been fighting over how to manage the growth of entitlement programs. Analysts think the fight will continue for years to come...
msnbc.msn.com
"... What is also disturbing about this administration's budget policies is that "reforms" always seem to cost taxpayers more money. For example, the administration's statement applauds Congress for spending an added $129 million on Medicare appeals, but then asks that the process be "streamlined." Shouldn't a streamlined process save taxpayers money, not cost them more? Similarly, Medicare reform is supposed to be about cutting costs to avert the program's coming financial crisis. In theory, prescription drugs should cut costs by reducing hospital stays. Yet taxpayers are getting walloped with an added $400 billion burden over the next 10 years because of the Medicare drug "reform" plan.
We saw the same thing with the president's education reforms. Education Department outlays have ballooned 65 percent in just three years. Now, the administration's policy statement on the appropriation bill urges Congress to "provide the full request" for a superfluous Mentoring of Middle School Students program, which is claimed to help kids make a "successful transition from elementary to secondary school."
Since coming to office, the administration has been running a strangely compartmentalized budget policy — letting Americans keep more of their money on the tax side, but steadily building up the welfare state on the spending side. That political strategy won't work much longer because spending is ultimately a taxpayer issue. Higher spending pushes up the deficit and creates a looming threat of higher taxes down the road..."
nationalreview.com
"...While critics decry billions of dollars of small "pork" projects, the bulk of domestic spending is for major programs. Exhibit A is the expansion of Medicare to include prescription drugs, which President Bush is expected to sign into law Monday. Sold as a $400 billion reform, the real costs could soar past $2 trillion in the second decade, as 76 million baby boomers begin to retire into the system. Conservatives say it's a formula for massive deficits and tax increases in the years to come.
Then, there's the $180 billion farm bill, passed just in time for 2002 elections, when farm states determined control of the Senate. It buried out of sight any thought of rolling back the federal system of farm support, which conservatives once pledged to abolish.
The president's signature No Child Left Behind Act increased education spending by 33 to 68 percent, depending on how you calculate the numbers...
reclaimdemocracy.org
Lame Duck, Big Spender
Surprise: Bush beats LBJ as federal spendthrift
reason.com
Hey, Big Spender
FDR and Truman made cuts when crises demanded it. Why won't Bush?
opinionjournal.com
Hey, Big Spender
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