Not true. Newt was responsible for the only balanced budget of your lifetime. He was speaker during the Clinton years. You have your timelines wrong.
Reagan and GW Bush, on the other hand, did have to deal with a recalcitrant, democratic congress that took increased receipts that resulted from presidential tax cuttting policies, and grossly over-spent. The reason they didn’t veto more is that they did not have a line-item veto. The democrats were willing to starve our military in order to get their way with spending.