The Democrats keep pointing to Clinton and claiming that he balanced the budget, and even ran a surplus, but it seems like no one has bothered to check the figures. Read the figures below, obtained from the US Treasury, and see for yourself:
National Debt on September 30 of each year (the last day of the Fiscal year); followed by the deficit that increased it
Year // Public Debt ………. increase from previous year
1993 // 4,406,339,573,433 The start of Clinton’s first budget
1994 // 4,692,749,910,013…..286,410,336,580
1995 // 4,973,982,900,709…..281,232,990,696
1996 // 5,224,810,939,135…..250,828,038,426
1997 // 5,413,146,011,397…..188,335,072,262
1998 // 5,526,193,008,897…..113,046,997,500
1999 // 5,656,270,901,633…..130,077,892,736
2000 // 5,674,178,209,886….. 17,909,308,253
2001 // 5,807,463,412,200…..133,285,202,914 (Bush assumed the helm Jan 1, 2001)
Sure, he came close with an $18 billion deficit in FY 2000, but that is certainly not a surplus. Clinton ran a deficit every year he was in office.