Clinton II — Balanced Budget, GLB, surplus peak, impeachment

Doctrine — stated goals and content

Third Way moderate-liberal fiscal-surplus doctrine operating under divided government. Five doctrinal pillars: (a) Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (P.L. 105-33, 5 August 1997) — Medicare growth curbs, SCHIP creation, capital-gains cut to 20%, first projected balanced budget since 1969; actual surplus achieved FY1998 ($69B) through FY2001 ($128B peak). (b) Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act 1999 (P.L. 106-102, 12 November 1999) — repealed Glass-Steagall Sections 20 and 32 separation of commercial + investment banking + insurance; permitted financial holding companies; controversially linked ex post to 2008 crisis contagion. (c) Commodity Futures Modernization Act 2000 — exempted OTC derivatives from CFTC regulation. (d) Lewinsky impeachment December 1998 — House impeached 19 Dec 1998 on perjury/obstruction; Senate acquitted 12 Feb 1999 (45-55 / 50-50); approval paradoxically rose to 73% during the crisis. (e) Dot-com boom + Kosovo intervention — GDP growth 4.4% (1997), 4.5% (1998), 4.8% (1999); Operation Allied Force March-June 1999. Stated school: New Democrat / Third Way / moderate-liberal fiscal- consolidation + financial-deregulation. Left-right: centre; fiscally centrist, socially liberal, financially deregulatory. Popularity: 1996 re-election 49.2% vs Dole 40.7%; average approval 60%; 2000 Gore-Lieberman lost electoral college 266-271 despite winning popular vote by 0.5%. Coherence: Third Way bargain traded Democratic transfer-expansion tradition for surplus-credibility, financial- deregulation, and welfare-reform implementation (TANF caseloads halved 1996-2000).