Actually, nobody makes the debt smaller. They monkey with the deficit, but the debt continues to grow. But your original claim is a naive talking point based

Actually, nobody makes the debt smaller. They monkey with the deficit, but the debt continues to grow. But your original claim is a naive talking point based upon who happened to be President at the time. Often, the Congress has a lot more to do with what happens spending-wise. Clinton was a good example. The Republicans were the ones who reined in the budget under Clinton, but somehow Clinton liked to talk about how he had "balanced the budget".