WASHINGTON - Even as President Bush proposes deep cuts in healthcare, farm subsidies and other domestic programs, his new budget makes one thing clear about the legacy of his first term in the White House: The era of big government is back.

Bush's $2.6-trillion budget for 2006, if approved by Congress, would be more than one-third bigger than the budget he inherited four years ago. It is a monument to how much Republicans' guiding fiscal philosophy has changed over the 10 years since the GOP "Contract With America" called for a balanced budget and abolition of entire Cabinet agencies.

No longer are Republicans arguing with Democrats about whether government should be big or small. They are at odds over what kind of big government the United States should have...

...Bush has moved to placate those critics in this budget by restating his pledge to cut the deficit in half by 2009; by pledging to abolish or cut back spending for 150 programs, and by taking on fast-growing entitlements like farm programs and Medicaid.

Many analysts view those promises with skepticism because Bush in his first term had a disappointing record of confronting Congress on popular spending programs. He is the first president since Martin Van Buren to spend an entire term in the White House without vetoing a single bill.

"This is a promise in which his position so far is not credible," said William A. Niskanen, a former economic advisor to President Reagan and chairman of the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank. "President Bush also promised to reduce the deficit in half last year, but it went up $15 billion..."