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No, but he had already introduced a tax increase on the wealthy in his first year and his fiscal 1994 (which would have been voted on before Newt and his buddies took office) budget included some pretty big spending cuts.
These two things started the trend toward a balanced budget and the added revenue from the economic boom in the mid to late 90s helped provide added revenue that ultimately enabled the last few Clinton budgets to run a surplus....
I'm not going to completely discount that the Republican Congress may have agreed with, or helped out with all of this, but Clinton didn't appear to require a Republican Congress to reign in the budget.
Again, I point to a parallel situation with W though... He presided over a massive bubble that should have netted a TON of additional revenue as well and managed to double our debt instead...
...So Bill's budget would have been balanced if Hillary Care had passed?
The reason that was the case was due to the tremendous deficit left by Poppa Bush. That kind of deficit wasn't going to change in a year or two However, what they did offer was a 5 year deficit reduction plan called the 1993 OMNIBUS Budget Reconciliation Act, which would decrease the deficit over a five year period resulting in a surplus at the end of those five years.
and exactly what role did the "Peace dividend" play in this?
hey, I am not taking anything away from Bill. You better believe that from where I am standing today, I would love to see someone line him in the whitehouse right now!
But clearly Bill found a willing ally in the Congress when the republicans took over in 1994.
I would love to have lots of debates about policy and direction if we could go back to the days when republicans and democrats were both working to reduce spending and end deficits.
The reason that was the case was due to the tremendous deficit left by Poppa Bush. That kind of deficit wasn't going to change in a year or two However, what they did offer was a 5 year deficit reduction plan called the 1993 OMNIBUS Budget Reconciliation Act, which would decrease the deficit over a five year period resulting in a surplus at the end of those five years.
OBRA93 was a single year budget bill that dictated spending and taxes in 1994. You seem to think the bill was a dedicated plan that established spending and taxes for several years to come, and I suspect your misinterpretation comes from a poorly worded analysis of the bill. In reality, it only capped and slightly reduced spending in 1994. The only permanent change was a tax increase of around 8.6% on the top marginal rate. Even then, it was only half of what the rate was in 1980. The 1993 Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act was just that, the budget guideline for the next fiscal year (1994). A budget is passed every single year, the only reason '93 gains any sort of attention is the fact that it was passed using the reconciliation process.
OBRA93 was a single year budget bill that dictated spending and taxes in 1994. You seem to think the bill was a dedicated plan that established spending and taxes for several years to come, and I suspect your misinterpretation comes from a poorly worded analysis of the bill. In reality, it only capped and slightly reduced spending in 1994. The only permanent change was a tax increase of around 8.6% on the top marginal rate. Even then, it was only half of what the rate was in 1980. The 1993 Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act was just that, the budget guideline for the next fiscal year (1994). A budget is passed every single year, the only reason '93 gains any sort of attention is the fact that it was passed using the reconciliation process.
I realize that the 1993 bill was a single year budget plan for 1994. However, it did lay the groundwork, plan and outline for budgets in the next five years, and was something that was followed pretty closely during that time period.
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