The Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985
The Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Reaffirmation Act of 1987
According to Senator Phil Gramm of Texas, a sponsor: "'Gramm-Rudman' was the first binding constraint imposed on federal spending, and its spending caps have become part of every subsequent U.S. budget. Together with a rapidly growing economy it produced the first balanced federal budget in a quarter of a century." " class="external">http://www.senate.gov/~gramm/bio.html However, those balanced budgets did not actually emerge until the late 1990s after the significant income tax rate increases under Presidents George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton had had time to take effect.