U.S. National Debt Breaches $37 Trillion

The U.S. government’s gross national debt has surpassed $37 trillion, a record figure that underscores the accelerating burden on America’s balance sheet and the rising cost pressures on taxpayers, Fatima Hussein reported for the Associated Press (AP).

The national debt reached this level years earlier than pre-pandemic projections.

The $37 trillion milestone was recorded in the latest Treasury Department report issued recently, which tracks the nation’s daily finances.

The national debt reached this level years earlier than pre-pandemic projections. In January 2020, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) had projected the gross federal debt would surpass $37 trillion after fiscal year 2030.

But the debt grew faster than expected due to the multi-year COVID-19 pandemic that began in 2020, which shut down much of the U.S. economy.

The federal government borrowed heavily under then-President Donald Trump and former President Joe Biden to stabilize the economy and support recovery.

More borrowing has since been authorized after Trump signed into law a Republican-backed tax cut and spending package earlier this year. The CBO said the law is expected to add $4.1 trillion to the national debt over the next decade.

Michael Peterson, chairman and CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, warned that government borrowing “puts upward pressure on interest rates, adding costs for everyone and reducing private sector investment. The debt crowds out priorities and creates a damaging cycle of more borrowing, more interest costs, and even more borrowing.”

Wendy Edelberg, a senior fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution, noted Congress’s central role in setting spending and revenue policy.

She said the GOP tax law “means that we’re going to borrow a lot over the course of 2026, we’re going to borrow a lot over the course of 2027, and it’s just going to keep going.”