You are falling into their game where they use the fiscal year figures rather than the total year figures, The government fiscal year ends in September. When you look at the entire year of 2000, there was an 18 billion dollar surplus. Plus ALL of the projections for the future were for the surplus to grow. Then Bush and Gore BOTH promised big tax cuts and increased social services spending, leaving the voters no real choice. It's why the 2000 election was dead even. Both candidates promised to give away all the fiscal gains. The middle class believes in paying their bills, and making the future better for their offspring. Politicians don't get that. They would have been willing to leave the tax rates where they were in 2000 if it meant that our national debt would have been paid down. Republicans were all against deficit spending until they got all the power. Now they want ordinary Americans to believe that deficits don't matter, and that economic growth will more than make up for it. Just another lie that we are supposed to swallow. You can't cut government spending without hurting the economy, so don't expect Republicans to act fiscally responsible any time soon.

The Clinton surplus was the short term $$ in and out for one fiscal year which was positive in his last year in office. The Bush team identified this as 'YOUR" money and made fiscal choices to drive the yearly inflow into negative territory. Ignored in all of this is the total debt (and interest for that debt) which continues unchecked although just had a big jump with the new tax cuts for the rich (Isn't that a terrific plan for Trump who benefits significantly from this). Meanwhile, understand that there is no Social Security "Trust Fund" talked about endlessly by the GOP. The Social Security surplus generated by the big tax increase in the Reagan years, has been spent each year by Congress leaving a stack of IOUs in a HHS file cabinet. Social Security inflow is expected to exceed outflow somewhere from 2022 to 2025. Then Congress will have to act because the so called trust fund is a fiction. Don't let them fool you!