Horvath wrote:

The budget HAS to be balanced every
year. If there's not enough, we increase the debt.

Right.

Clinton borrowed more money than he needed, balanced the budget, and
called the left over money a "surplus."

That's just nonsense. Clinton's last few budgets collected more
in taxes than the federal government spent, cutting the publicly
held portion of the federal debt. Meanwhile Social Security
(to name one) were buying federal securities because they were
collecting more money than they were spending as well, adding
to the overall debt by adding to the intergovernmental holdings.