Congress is in charge of the budget. During the Clinton years when we had close to balanced budgets, Congress was controlled by the Republicans. During Bush ll when the budget deficits skyrocketed, Congress was controlled by the Democrats. This is not to say that the Bush wars on several Arab nations did not contribute or cause the problems. The 2nd big Bush mistake was making Henry Paulson Secretary of the Treasury. That was like putting the fox in charge of the hen house. Even so, if we had a constitutional congress during Bush years these budget busters could have been cut off by withholding of funds.