Yes, President Bill Clinton's administration significantly reduced the national debt, achieving budget surpluses for the first time in decades and reducing the debt held by the public by hundreds of billions of dollars, a rare feat in U.S. history. This was accomplished through fiscal discipline, increased tax revenues (including tax hikes in 1993), and economic growth, leading to the largest budget surpluses in history by the end of his term.
Debt held by the public was actually paid down by $453 billion over the 1998-2001 periods, the only time this happened between 1970 and 2018. Federal spending fell from 20.7% GDP in 1993 to 17.6% GDP in 2000, below the historical average (1966 to 2015) of 20.2% GDP.
The U.S. has experienced a fiscal year-end budget surplus four times in the last 50 years, most recently in 2001. When there is no deficit or surplus due to spending and revenue being equal, the budget is considered balanced .
President Clinton oversaw the second longest period of peacetime economic expansion in American history. Months into his first term, he signed the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993, which raised taxes and set the stage for future budget surpluses.
Yes, Bill Clinton used the phrase "make America great again" during his 1992 presidential campaign, famously declaring it when announcing his candidacy in Little Rock, Arkansas, on October 3, 1991, though the slogan was originally popularized by Ronald Reagan in 1980 and later used by Donald Trump.
In terms of deficit reduction, the final monthly Treasury statement for FY 2025 (ending in September) showed a deficit of roughly $1.78 trillion, as compared to roughly $1.82 trillion for FY 2024.
And ensuring a state is responsibly budgeting and spending shouldn't just be a concern for budget hawks and fiscal watchdogs. States with balanced budgets are more equipped to help constituents in need, build “rainy day” funds, improve state programming, and reduce taxpayer burdens.
Yes, in 2001, the budget had the surplus created during Clinton's term.
During Reagan's presidency, the federal debt held by the public nearly tripled in nominal terms, from $738 billion to $2.1 trillion. This led to the U.S. moving from the world's largest international creditor to the world's largest debtor nation.
Eliminating the U.S. government's debt is a Herculean task that could take decades. In addition to obvious steps, such as hiking taxes and slashing spending, the government could take a number of other approaches, some of them unorthodox and even controversial.
1837: Andrew Jackson
This resulted in a huge government surplus of funds. (In 1835, the $17.9 million budget surplus was greater than the total government expenses for that year.) By January of 1835, for the first and only time, all of the government's interest-bearing debt was paid off.
The Clinton Administration has cut over 100,000 federal jobs already. In less than five years, the federal government civilian work force will drop by at least 272,900 -- the smallest it's been since the Kennedy Administration. We've saved the American taxpayer $63 billion through reinventing government.
Growth of the national debt
As of January 07, 2026, total gross national debt is $38.43 trillion. Debt held by the public is $30.81 trillion. Intragovernmental debt is $7.62 trillion.
And even though Canada managed to run operating surpluses for 8 of the 10 years following 1986, it did not achieve overall budget balance until 1997-98, in large measure because in the interim the nominal value of Canada's net debt had increased twentyfold over the 1975-95 period, with the result that debt-servicing ...
The last time that the budget was balanced or had a surplus was the 2001 United States federal budget, under 42nd President Bill Clinton.
In 2025, global debt remains high as advanced economies average 110% debt-to-GDP vs. 74% in emerging and developing ones. Sudan (252%) has overtaken Japan (235%) as the world's most indebted country, while the U.S. sits at 123% 💰️ Japan. 235 Singapore 175% China.
Originally used by Ronald Reagan as a campaign slogan in his 1980 presidential campaign ("Let's Make America Great Again"), it has since been described as a loaded phrase.
President Clinton enacted targeted tax cuts such as the Earned Income Tax Credit expansion, $500 child tax credit, and the HOPE Scholarship and Lifetime Learning Tax Credits. Federal income taxes as a percentage of income for the typical American family have dropped to their lowest level in 35 years.