General Discussion

President Clinton's Record on Fiscal Discipline: Between 1981 and 1992, the national debt held by the public quadrupled. The annual budget deficit grew to $290 billion in 1992, the largest ever, and was projected to grow to more than $455 billion by Fiscal Year (FY) 2000. As a result of the tough and sometimes unpopular choices made by President Clinton, and major deficit reduction legislation passed in 1993 and 1997, we have seen eight consecutive years of fiscal improvement for the first time in America's history.

Largest Surplus Ever: The surplus in FY 2000 is $237 billion—the third consecutive surplus and the largest surplus ever.

Largest Three-Year Debt Pay-Down Ever: Between 1998-2000, the publicly held debt was reduced by $363 billion—the largest three-year pay-down in American history. Under Presidents Reagan and Bush, the debt held by the public quadrupled. Under the Clinton-Gore budget, we are on track to pay off the entire publicly held debt on a net basis by 2009.

These are all facts backed up by Governmenl Accounting Office (GAO) forecast public debt values. In each successive year after 2000, they showed that if tax policy remained as it was the total public debt would be paid off by 2009.

However, George W. Bush and the republicans scuttled Clinton's tax policies within months of taking office with H.R.1836 - Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 , which gave out $600, $500, and $300 refund checks, depending on your filing status. And while the GOA's forecast held true for several months into the Bush presidency lack of attention to "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in the US," 9/11 happened and spending wiped out what remained of what would have been a complete erasing of America's public debt.