51st United States Congress

The Congress was dominated by the Republican Party. It was responsible for a number of pieces of landmark legislation, many of which asserted the authority of the federal government.

Emboldened by their success in the elections of 1888, the Republicans enacted virtually their entire platform during their first 303-day session, including a measure that provided American Civil War veterans with generous pensions and expanded the list of eligible recipients to include noncombatants and the children of veterans. Grover Cleveland had vetoed a similar bill in 1887. It was criticized as the "Billion Dollar Congress'" for its lavish spending and, for this reason it incited drastic reversals in public support that led to Cleveland's reelection in 1892.

Just to provide some perspective, I'd like to point out that this has been going on for a very long time. The 51st United States Congress was the first to incur a billion dollar national debt. The Republicans were spending lavishly and it seems that this was seen as irresponsible by the Amercan people. Quite a change from today when Americans don't care how much Congress spends as long as some of the loot is directed at them.