FLASHBACK--Obama’s First Speech to Congress: I Don’t Believe in Bigger Government
Seven years ago in his first speech to a joint session of Congress, President Barack Obama declared that he did not believe in “bigger government.”
“As soon as I took office, I asked this Congress to send me a recovery plan by President's Day that would put people back to work and put money in their pockets, not because I believe in bigger government--I don't--not because I'm not mindful of the massive debt we've inherited--I am,” said Obama in his Feb. 24, 2009 speech to a joint session.
A week before this speech, Obama had signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (H.R. 1), which the Congressional Budget Office estimated at that time [1] would add $787 billion to the deficit.
“Combining both spending and revenue effects, CBO estimates that enacting the conference agreement for H.R. 1 would increase federal budget deficits by $185 billion over the remaining months of fiscal year 2009, by $399 billion in 2010, by $134 billion in 2011, and by $787 billion over the 2009-2019 period,” CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf said in a Feb. 13, 2009 letter to then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi [1].
In 2010, Obama signed the Affordable Care Act, AKA Obamacare.
In fiscal 2008, which was the last full fiscal year before Obama became president, the federal government spent approximately $2,978,664,000,000, according to the U.S. Treasury [2].
That equals $3,283,485,130,000 in constant 2015 dollars.
In fiscal 2015, according to the Treasury [3], the federal government spent $3,687,622,000,000 in 2015 dollars, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics inflation calculator.
During the Obama years, inflation-adjusted annual federal spending has increased by $404,136,870,000—or 12.3 percent.
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http://cnsnews.com/blog/terence-p-jeffrey/flashback-obamas-first-speech-congress-i-dont-believe-bigger-government 
