Public + Intergovernmental Holdings ='s National Debt
Every year of the Clinton Presidency the National Debt Increased.
In the Final 3 Fiscal Years, the years we had all those "surpluses", the National Debt was increased by about $260 Billion Dollars.
Why?? Because over the last 3 Fiscal Years, Congress and the Clinton Administration stuffed the various "trust funds" with over a half a Trillion Dollars worth of IOU's. So by borrowing internally instead of externally they were able to propagate the myth that they had a budget surplus.
Sadly, unless they want to kill all of those trust funds, like Social Security, all of that Intergovernmental Debt has to be paid back.
So, if the Federal Government dissolves Social Security, and all the other trust funds that the Federal Government has billions if not trillions of dollars worth of IOU's written to, than yes I will concede that Clinton ran a surplus. Until those programs are wiped out or written off, you can't say that.
So, they ran a "surplus" but still increased the national debt by about $260 Billion Dollars over the Final 3 Fiscal Years . . . only in Washington D.C. is that called an accomplishment.