With the Bush administration trying to effect a sudden shift from spendthrift to scrooge this budget season, the time is right to sort out fiscal myth from reality. The administration has issued shrill warnings that "the Democrats' budget would lead to spending and tax increases that put economic growth and a balanced budget at risk" (per OMB, June 12). In fact, the administration has demanded an increase in FY 2008 discretionary spending of seven percent over FY 2007; by contrast, the Democrats' proposed increase is a whopping nine percent, as we noted last week. To set the record straight, the Center on Budget issued a paper yesterday entitled "The Fight over Appropriations: Myths and Reality." While the GOP has warned loudly that the Democrats' budget is a stalking horse for "the largest tax increase in American history," the paper presents as one of its key findings: Under the funding levels that Congress plans, domestic discretionary programs would grow more slowly than revenues, and thus would not create pressure for tax increases. The entire paper is a welcome dose of reality to counter the hysterical rhetoric of GOP leaders regarding the budget.