That’s how it rolls now, thanks to Bush. Clinton balanced the budget and even ran a surplus, and the first thing Bush did after getting elected was say the surplus should be returned to the people — ignoring the fact that the surplus was just starting to make a tiny dent in the national debt that Reagan and Bush Sr. had run up.
So he went into massive deficit spending, even starting two wars, only one of which had any justification, while still cutting taxes.
A Democratic President would have to be an idiot to make a serious attempt at balancing the budget after that demonstration of Republican irresponsibility. Why take the heat for all the necessary program cuts, when the next Republican in office will just piss away whatever you manage to save up?