Congress sets the budgets (well, is supposed to, but yes there has been pretty excessive delegation to the executive) so you really want to say every Congress #

Congress sets the budgets (well, is supposed to, but yes there has been pretty excessive delegation to the executive) so you really want to say every Congress # + White House. When you break it up that way, there have been several fiscally conservative congresses + good presidency combos, most notably under Clinton where they reformed welfare, increased taxes and managed to get a budget surplus one year. The formula seems to be slim Democratic Party majorities in Congress with a Democrat president. So yes it’s rare but good governance + rising tides can make a difference.