Clinton left office with federal budget surplus. Bush 2.0 started decades long global conflicts. On top of that, Republicans controlled the House and Senate fo

Clinton left office with federal budget surplus. Bush 2.0 started decades long global conflicts. On top of that, Republicans controlled the House and Senate for almost the entire period from 1997 to 2013. There wasn't a split congress. The next shutdown to occur was a show of Republican chest beating in protest of ACA funding.