Obama touts Bill Clinton’s budget record

by Jordan Fabian - 04/15/15 3:49 PM ET

President Obama on Wednesday touted Bill Clinton’s budget record in defending Democrats’ economic agenda.

The president said his party’s reputation for “tax-and-spend” policies is unwarranted, given the record of the past three administrations.

{mosads}“When Bill Clinton was president, the budget got balanced, and we had low deficits,” Obama said during a town hall with workingwomen in Charlotte, N.C.

In a jab at his predecessor, George W. Bush, Obama said, “somebody else came in, and the deficits started going up.”

The president said deficits have come down by two-thirds since he entered office.

Obama’s comments come as the White House is making an economic push on issues like equal pay for women and income inequality. The messaging effort has coincided with the launch of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

The president has not officially endorsed his former secretary of State for president, but his economic push could help backstop her campaign kickoff, which is focused on economic issues.

Republicans dismissed Obama’s attempt to take credit for shrinking deficits.

“Pretty sure the GOP House Majority is the big reason why the deficit started ticking down. Just sayin,” Cory Fritz, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said in a tweet.

Tags Barack Obama Bill Clinton George W. Bush