Measuring presidential budget success

The amount the federal government is allowed to spend in a given year typically begins with a president's budget request to Congress. The eventual total can differ from those in the president's budget for one of two reasons. One is opposition from Congress, which might push for higher or lower spending. The second is that emergencies like, say, the Korean War or Hurricane Katrina can push up expenditures beyond what anyone could have predicted.

The first chart shows the percent difference between the presidential requests and the spending enacted in a given year since 1945, the second chart shows the total amount of taxes collected in each given year and the third chart shows the total level of discretionary spending in each given year.