Clinton and a budget surplus
The Republican takeover of Congress in 1994 led to a push for a balanced budget, President Clinton and congress reduced the deficit. Major economic growth and spending controls such as welfare reform, favoured by both the President and republican congress allowed for a balanced budget (when the Social Security surplus was counted as revenue) by early in Clinton's second term - considerably earlier than what Clinton's own projections for this had indicated and, afterwards, a surplus which actually allowed the retirement of some government debt.
Momentarily, the deficit issue faded from view. Despite the nominal surplus, the national debt grew each year of the Clinton presidency since the surplus is not applied against spending in this calculation.
Out of office, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich called for continued payments toward the debt with a view to paying it off entirely. Perot's less effective 1996 presidential bid was in part evidence of the declining significance of the deficit, and hence the Balanced Budget Amendment, as an issue. In his final State of the Union President Clinton said the USA should continue to balance its books and pay off the deibt entirely, however a combination of tax cuts, an international economic downturn and increased military spending during the Bush Presidency have seen the debt grow to the largest in US history.
