> The ONLY combination that can balance the budget is a Democratic president with a Democratic House and Senate

As usual Brian you are wrong. A Democratic President with a GOP congress  actually balanced the budget (see President Clinton). This is because the only time the conservatives actually care about the budget is when they can use it as a weapon against the Dems.

VP_Spiro_T_Cheney wrote:

ALL of the spending cuts and tax increases were voted in by Democrats, in straight party line votes.  These actions took effect over a number of years starting in 1994  Al Gore was majority leader, Dick Durbin was speaker, not one Republican voted in support of any of the measures.

Drug using adulterer Newt Gingrich (the first House Speaker ever to be officially reprimanded for corruption and perjury) came along later and took credit for the balanced budget but in fact never once voted for even one tax increase or spending cut.

How the fuq do you balance the budget without ever either reducing spending or raising more revenue?

The fact remains that the budget got the biggest surpluses under a GOP controlled congress. Here is what AI says:


President Bill Clinton presided over a period in which the federal government recorded budget surpluses in fiscal years 1998, 1999, 2000 and part of 2001, meaning the budget was effectively “balanced” and the deficit erased during his administration. That outcome resulted from a mix of policy choices — tax increases and spending controls — plus a strong economy and bipartisan congressional actions, and historians and budget analysts debate how much credit should be assigned to each factor.

The path to surplus involved bipartisan and adversarial dynamics: Republicans in Congress pushed hard for deficit reduction and constrained spending, while Clinton signed tax increases and negotiated budget deals; some political analyses argue neither side “did it alone” and that political conflict shaped the final compromises. Critics framing the narrative as a single-party triumph often reflect partisan agendas — either to credit Clinton for fiscal responsibility or to emphasize congressional leverage — and the record shows multiple actors and institutional rules contributed to the outcome.

I have no major issues with this. It was a team effort. Something you far left extremists wouldn't know anything about.

CommieBernie.jpg

It's very simple.

Restore the 1960 tax code.

https://www.tax-brackets.org/federaltaxtable/1960

This will make America great again.

Rosa in Exile wrote:

The path to surplus involved bipartisan and adversarial dynamics: Republicans in Congress pushed hard for deficit reduction and constrained spending, while Clinton signed tax increases and negotiated budget deals; some political analyses argue neither side “did it alone” and that political conflict shaped the final compromises. Critics framing the narrative as a single-party triumph often reflect partisan agendas — either to credit Clinton for fiscal responsibility or to emphasize congressional leverage — and the record shows multiple actors and institutional rules contributed to the outcome….

Bullshyt.  Gingrich’s Congress never passed a budget that reduced spending below the previous year.  Dick Durbin’s Congress did, in 1993 on a straight party line vote.

Gingrich’s Congress DID pass tax cuts for the rich, the Laffer Curve cuts which failed their stated purpose of increasing revenues.

How the fuq do you reduce the deficit if you never once reduce spending or increase taxes?

Rosa in Exile wrote:

Saying bullshyt won't change anything. You see this is why you hate me. I have about 20-30 more IQ points that thou.

I thought VP Cheney was BBC-crazed OLG.

Rosa vs. VP_Spear_Chucker is quite amusing and out of left field.

Rosa in Exile wrote:

Saying bullshyt won't change anything. You see this is why you hate me. I have about 20-30 more IQ points that thou.

Sadly, those 20-30 IQ points don’t seem to be helping you identify any legislation that any Republican in Congress ever voted for that actually decreased overall Federal spending.

The best they seem to be able to do is take $1 from the poor and the working class while spending $2 more on pork and defense and gibs-me-dats for the rich.

For example the GOPs proposed FY2027 budget calls for a staggering $1.5 trillion in defense spending, a 50% increase year over year.