omote, and pass their budget, as promised on campaign trail 94,
             Clinton rejected the very bill he demanded. This essentially brought
             the federal budget back to square one. Clinton thought such a demand
             on Republicans to produce a budget would produce inner-party quarrels
             and cause the GOP to implode. Instead, they produced a fiscal budget
             that passed both houses of Congress, only to be stalemated by a
             stubborn Democratic President Clinton. Meanwhile, Clinton bounced back
             with a CBO scored plan with lighter, less risky cuts to politically
             sensitive areas like entitlements. Clinton's plan also saved dollars
             for education and did not include a tax increase, but most cuts would
             not take effect until he is out of office, in the year 2001. Although
             Clinton is sometimes criticized for producing a stalemate in budget
             talks, the White House points out that the debt has gone down since
             Clinton took office, with unemployment also falling. Republicans are
             quick to state that Clinton originally increased taxes in 1993 and cut
             defense programs, but his overall plan was for an increasing budget
             As of 1996, the national debt was at an all time high of $5
             trillion dollars, with interest running at a whopping $250 billion per
             year (Rau M-1). This equals out to an individual responsibility of
             more than $50,000 per taxpayer. Nearly 90% of that debt has
             accumulated since 1970, and between 1980 and 1995, the debt grew by
             500%. Currently, the debt grows by more than $10,000 per second (Rau
             M-l), and at current rates, a baby born in 1992 will pay 71% of his or
             her income in net taxes. At current rates, our government is about to
             reach its breaking point. If that's not enough to scare a taxpayer, by
             2002, 60% of government spending will be for entitlements, and by
             2012, these programs are projected to take up all government revenue
             (Dentze...