The federal budget deficit is gone, transformed by a strong economy into a string of projected surpluses that should grow larger for years to come....
Eliminating the deficit is hardly the end of the government’s financial troubles, however.... [T]he national debt was built up over decades of deficit spending—the federal government has not run steady surpluses since the 1920s—and it remains an economic millstone of considerable proportion.
According to this passage, at the time it was written (1999), the national debt was
a. eliminated. b. falling. c. rising. d. staying about the same.
I think ths answer is D