I assume your referring to the periodic "supplemental" appropriations for the war? Don't make the same utterly ignorant mistake that Americano made, which I corrected in the "National Debt Hits $9 Trillion - posting #13" thread that "supplemental" is the same as "off budget", it is not, the annual deficit calculations at the end of each fiscal year most definitely include every penny spent by the Federal Government, INCLUDING for the war. What the war supplementals are NOT included in is the beginning of the year official budget and multi-year PROJECTIONS. But despite the spending on the war the deficit HAS declined steadily since the phase in of the Bush tax cuts.

You see, the way the budget process works is that at some point prior to or early in a new fiscal year, the congress passes a series of primary "appropriations bills" each of which represents the bulk of the budget appropriations for the year for one or more cabinet departments. The official "budget" does not include even expected "supplementals" during the year in its projections.

Then, during the course of the year, congress continues to spend money, every spending bill for current spending (as opposed to entirely new programs like the Prescription Drug program) are called "supplemental" appropriations.

At the end of the fiscal year the government subtracts ALL the spending (regardless of whether it was in the official budget appropriations or from "supplemental" appropriations) from all revenues and that is the official deficit for the year.

So yes, EVEN with the spending on the war factored in, the deficit has plummetted.

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"It's a good feeling to shoot a bad guy. Something you democrats would never understand. Americans are homesteaders, we want a safe home, keep the money we make, and shoot bad guys!"

----Denny Crane