This was your original question:
> How did you come to the conclusion that Clinton balanced the budget?
Having a surplus means your budget is balanced and then some.
> When have any of these presidents successfully pushed for reducing the federal deficit during their tenures? Any actual reductions to the debt you’ve seen?
You specifically mention deficits, and a surplus leads to an actual reduction in debt.
> What’s causing you to focus on presidents rather than congressional actions?
The same congress that was in charge during surplus was more than happy to put us in high deficit again.
> How do you think fiscal policy keeps getting passed through congress when there’s largely two parties that have to agree to get it done?
Gridlock is a great way of not spending money. More to the point: Clinton was ok with cutting spending as much as he was with raising taxes. He treated the deficit as if it were actually important unlike Bush, Obama, Trump, Biden.
