I didn't know that

Apparently, the President is not responsible for the budget. The Speaker of the Senate is.

That's very interesting.

As was this:

Here are the Speakers of the House over the last 30 years and the deficits or surpluses they ran in constant FY2000 dollars, in billions, rounded to the nearest billion. Surpluses are in green, deficits in red.

Tip O'Neill (D) - 1977-86: 136, 141, 89, 147, 142, 215, 333, 283, 313, 318

Jim Wright (D) - 1987-88: 210, 211

Tom Foley (D) - 1989-94: 200, 280, 327, 341, 292, 228

Newt Gingrich (R) - 1995-98: 180, 115, 23, 72

Denny Hastert (R) - 1999-2006: 129, 236, 125, 151, 353, 375, 279, 210

Nancy Pelosi (D) - 2007-2008: 162, 409

So the next time someone blames Bush for the parlous state of the US budget, think of this post. As well as any time someone slags off Newt Gingrich.