Nussle defended the president, noting that he faced unexpected challenges after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
"He had an underfunded military, in fact was running a deficit when it came to our ability to respond to homeland security and international intelligence and making sure that our country was protected," Nussle said. "So while mathematically there may have been a surplus, there were many underlying deficits that the president had to deal with that became manifest on Sept. 11 and beyond."
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Wednesday, July 30, 2008 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 30 words Type of Material: Correction
Budget deficit: An article in Tuesday's Section A about a new report on the federal deficit said that Sen. Kent Conrad was from South Dakota. He is from North Dakota.
Conrad complained that Bush has long refused to acknowledge the role that his tax cuts have played in the deficit projections. He also accused Bush of using deceptive budget practices, including funding much of the Iraq war off the regular budget.
"This president has burgeoned the debt and the deficit by doing two things: running up spending dramatically and dramatically reducing the revenue in a way that was completely imprudent, that has saddled this country with record deficit and debt," Conrad said.
But Republicans, who lost their majority in Congress two years ago in part because of voters' dismay over the country's burgeoning fiscal problems, warned that a second stimulus package sought by Democrats would only make the problem worse.
"Today's announcement is a cautionary tale for the next president and Congress that we cannot spend our way out of the economic downturn," said Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, the top Republican on the Senate budget panel.
"Skyrocketing energy bills have hit families and businesses hard, and while tax rebate checks have been issued to help address the lag in economic growth, the extra $2,200 families must pay in higher gas and oil bills this year alone have long since absorbed any impact the stimulus payments were meant to have to spur economic growth."
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maura.reynolds@latimes.com
