It is the Whitehouse who presents the budget to Congress. While congress technically has the "power of the purse", it is rarely exercised to actually cut spending.At any rate, the concept of "starve the beast" is a uniquely Republican idea and "trickle down" economic policy is indisputably the brain child of the Reagan administration.On top of that, the rubber stamp action of the Republican majority during the first six years of Bush's presidency racked up some of the largest deficits in U.S. history. That's fairly indefensible.But, hey, I get it. Conservatives can do no wrong. Nothing to see here, move along.