If you look at these numbers you will see that the national debt has gone up every year since 1969 except the last four years of the Clinton administration budget:
Revenues, Outlays, Deficits, Surpluses, and Debt Held by the Public,
1968 to 2007, in Billions of Dollars
Sources: Congressional Budget Office; Office of Management and Budget.
Date Deficit (-) or Surplus Debt Held by the Public
1968 -25.2 289.5
1969 3.2 278.1
1970 -2.8 283.2
1971 -23.0 303.0
1972 -23.4 322.4
1973 -14.9 340.9
1974 -6.1 343.7
1975 -53.2 394.7
1976 -73.7 477.4
1977 -53.7 549.1
1978 -59.2 607.1
1979 -40.7 640.3
1980 -73.8 711.9
1981 -79.0 789.4
1982 -128.0 924.6
1983 -207.8 1,137.3
1984 -185.4 1,307.0
1985 -212.3 1,507.3
1986 -221.2 1,740.6
1987 -149.7 1,889.8
1988 -155.2 2,051.6
1989 -152.6 2,190.7
1990 -221.0 2,411.6
1991 -269.2 2,689.0
1992 -290.3 2,999.7
1993 -255.1 3,248.4
1994 -203.2 3,433.1
1995 -164.0 3,604.4
1996 -107.4 3,734.1
1997 -21.9 3,772.3
1998 69.3 3,721.1
1999 125.6 3,632.4
2000 236.2 3,409.8
2001 128.2 3,319.6
2002 -157.8 3,540.4
2003 -377.6 3,913.4
2004 -412.7 4,295.5
2005 -318.3 4,592.2
2006 -248.2 4,829.0
2007 -160.7 5,035.1
http://www.cbo.gov/budget/data/historical.pdf
Federal Debt Under President George W. Bush
President Bush started with 3.3196 trillion dollars of public debt.
He left his 8 years (6 years with control of both branches of Congress) with 7.8111 trillion dollars of public debt.
This means the public debt increased 4.4915 trillion dollars during his administration.
Federal Debt Under President Obama
Here are the numbers for the Obama administration projected out to 21014:
| Year | Gross Debt in Billions | as % of GDP | Debt Held By Public ($Billions) | as % of GDP |
| 2010 (2 Sept) | 13,442.1 | 92.1 (2nd Q) | 8,933.2 | 61.2 (2nd Q) |
| 2010 (est.) | 14,456.3 | 98.1 | 9,881.9 | 67.1 |
| 2011 (est.) | 15,673.9 | 101.0 | 10,873.1 | 70.1 |
| 2012 (est.) | 16,565.7 | 100.6 | 11,468.4 | 69.6 |
| 2013 (est.) | 17,440.2 | 99.7 | 12,027.1 | 68.7 |
| 2014 (est.) | 18,350.0 | 99.8 | 12,594.8 | 68.5 |
This means the public debt is estimated to increase under the Obama administration by 4.7837 trillion dollars.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_public_debt
Wikipedia can be unreliable but I checked out the numbers before I posted the link. The chart is a little simpler to read but here is the official US Treasury Department numbers:
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/histdebt/histdebt_histo4.htm
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/histdebt/histdebt_histo5.htm
Projected (est.) Congressional Budget Office numbers come from this report:
http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/100xx/doc10014/03-20-PresidentBudget.pdf
Republican’s commonly complain that the surplus was due to Republican control of the Congress. However, they do not point out that President Clinton did not have full control of the Congress for six years as President Bush did.
The Republicans took control (not a super majority) of the US House of Representatives in 1994 not the Senate.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_of_Representatives_elections,_1994
In 1995 the Republicans took control of the Senate as well (not a super majority).
“In the 1996, 1998, and 2000 elections, Republicans lost Congressional seats but still retained control of the House and, more narrowly, the Senate. After the 2000 election, the Senate was divided evenly between the parties, with Republicans retaining the right to organize the Senate due to the election of Dick Cheney as Vice President and ex officio presiding officer of the Senate. The Senate shifted to control by the Democrats (though they technically were the plurality party as they were one short of a majority) after GOP senator Jim Jeffords changed party registration to “Independent” in June 2001, but later returned to Republican control after the November 2002 elections. In the 2006 elections, Democrats won both the House of Representatives (233 Democrats, 202 Republicans) and the Senate (49 Democrats, 49 Republicans, and 2 Independents caucusing with the Democrats) as well as the majority of state governorships (28-22).”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Revolution
The Republicans had full control of the Executive and Congressional branches of government for six years and could not generate a surplus. However, President Clinton did it for four years without having full control.