The Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Initiative (GRH)
Also known as the Balanced Budget and Emergency Control Act,
GRH was introduced in 1985 as a method of controlling excessive
government spending by the Reagan administration. It outlined
spending targets that would eliminate the deficit by 1991,
prompting a public debate on the dangers of the growing
tendency of government to borrow and spend. A major point of
contention was GRH’s demand to cut social spending. Progressive
members of the Democratic Party, in particular, were incensed
that military spending was not subjected to the same stringent
reduction schemes as social programmes. Although not all of the
measures outlined in GRH were implemented, the neoliberal
momentum behind it endured.