I believe that domestic spending under REagan actually stayed steady or even declined; it was military spending that climbed, and needed to, after the torpor of the incompetent Carter years. Bush has let BOTH domestic and military spending (primarily due to the Iraq adventure which some neoconservatives absurdly claimed would cost nothing, it would be paid for in its entirety by Iraqi oil) zoom.
Yes, so very true. Bush started off wrong with the $400,000,000,000.00 Education Bill he let Ted 'Hiccup" Kennedy write. Things went downhill from there with our earmark happy Republican Congress.
One other thing to remember: Even before the Iraq war, even before 9/11, President Bush had to start the rebuilding of the military after the massive (and actual, not theoretical) cuts to the military budget under Klinton.