Hurricane Costs Send Budget Projections Deeper into the RedOffsetting the cost of rebuilding is all the more important because the rebuilding effort follows a 33 percent expansion of the federal government since 2001, a period that saw:
* The 2001 No Child Behind Act, the most expensive education bill in American history, which led to a 100 percent increase in education spending;
* The 2002 Farm Security and Rural Investment Act, the most expensive farm bill in American history;
* The 2003 Medicare Modernization Act, the most expensive Great Society expansion in history;
* A war in and the rebuilding of Iraq that, while justified, could cost between $300 and $600 billion, in total;
* International spending leap 94 percent;
* Housing and Commerce spending surge 86 percent;
* Community and regional development spending jump 71 percent;
* Health research spending increase 61 percent;
* Veterans’ spending increase 51 percent; and
* The number of annual pork projects leap from 6,000 to 14,000.
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