National debt surpasses $33 trillion
The U.S. gross national debt surpassed $33 trillion, a troubling benchmark as lawmakers show little interest in reining in spending, let alone a balanced budget.
The milestone comes as Congress faces a deadline of Sept. 30 to pass another spending measure or face a federal government shutdown.
โ$1 trillion more debtโฆ SINCE JUNE!โ Rep. Dan Bishop, R-N.C., wrote on social media. โNow $33 trillion. Your familyโs share is over $260,000. The swampโs answer: letโs do another CR.โ
The current deficits mean that debt will only continue to grow. Earlier this month, the U.S. Congressional Budget Office published its estimate of the deficit 11 months into the fiscal year which reported that the U.S. deficit hit about $1.5 trillion. At the same point last year, the deficit was under one trillion dollars.
That debt has several economic consequences, including elevated inflation and taxpayers shelling out billions just for interest payments on the debt. As The Center Square previously reported, within a decade the cost of interest payments on the national debt will cost taxpayers more than spending on national defense. In addition, interest payments on the national debt are on track to become the federal governmentโs biggest expense.
Some Republicans blasted President Joe Biden after the news broke.
โThe U.S. national debt has exceeded $33 trillion for the first time in history,โ Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., wrote on social media. โBidenโs reckless spending has created an economic crisis.โ
Both parties, though, have rapidly added to the national debt over the last two decades.
โWeโre $33 trillion in debt because when Congress passes spending bills, each item is often tied to every other itemโpackaged together in one, gigantic bill,โ Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, wrote on social media. โThat bill is then presented to Congress on a take-it-or-leave-it basis, with no real chance to amend, improve, or cut.โ
Budget experts and fiscal projections show the debt will only get larger over the next decades.
โThe Congressional Budget Office confirmed just last week that the underlying deficit is going to roughly double from last fiscal year to this one,โ Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, said in a statement. โInstead of hearing about solutions, we hear promises of which programs our leaders are unwilling to touch and which taxes they are unwilling to raise. That kind of talk is not only pandering, but itโs also downright irresponsible when we have a mess like this on our hands.โ
As The Center Square previously reported, a bipartisan coalition of budget and fiscal groups formed a coalition to call on Congress to create a fiscal commission to address the issue.
The group of experts sent a letter to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
โWe write to encourage the establishment of a bipartisan fiscal commission to help address the nationโs many budgetary and economic challenges,โ the open letter said. โThough the recent Fiscal Responsibility Act improved the nationโs fiscal outlook, the national debt continues to approach record levels, major trust funds remain at risk of insolvency, and rising interest costs are increasingly crowding out other priorities.โ