The Gramm-Latta Budget 1981 and the Gramm-Latta Omnibus Reconciliation Bill of 1981, sponsored by Representative

United States House of Representatives

The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...

s Phil Gramm

Phil Gramm

William Philip "Phil" Gramm is an American economist and politician, who has served as a Democratic Congressman , a Republican Congressman and a Republican Senator from Texas...

 (a Democrat

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 from Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

) and Delbert Latta (a Republican

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

 from Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

), implemented President

President of the United States

The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

 Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan

Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....

's economic program. This included an increase in military spending and major cuts in discretionary and entitlement spending. The law also mandated the controversial 1981 Kemp-Roth Tax Cut

Kemp-Roth Tax Cut

The Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 , also known as the ERTA or "Kemp-Roth Tax Cut," was a federal law enacted in the United States in 1981...

.

In a 2001 press conference to announce his retirement, Gramm had this to say about the bill:

I wrote the first Reagan budget -- the Gramm-Latta budget that rebuilt national defense and that laid the foundation for a program of peace through strength

Peace through strength

"Peace through strength" is a conservative slogan supporting military strength for the purpose of creating peaceful international relations.For supporters of the MX missile in the 1970s, the missile symbolized "peace through strength." The phrase was popular in political rallies during 1988...

; the Reagan program that tore down the Berlin Wall, that liberated Eastern Europe, that transformed the Soviet Union and that changed the world."

External links

• "That Bewildering Numbers Game" @ Time Magazine - Monday, May. 11, 1981