The U.S. national debt crossed a sobering $40 trillion this week, with little sign that Americans are ready to give up the entitlements driving it higher, or that Washington has a serious plan to stop it. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Thursday that the only way out is to grow our way out of debt.
That is a seriously tall order, because to reduce our debt through growth alone, the economy would need to outpace its historical GDP growth rate by roughly two to three times, year after year, for decades, something that is close to impossible. However, Vice President JD Vance said Thursday night that Bessent and President Trump have a "discreet" plan to begin growing America out of its debt.
“Scott Bessent, the amazing Treasury Secretary, he has had a very discreet plan... to get the United States to a point where our economy is growing faster than our debt.”
— NEWSMAX (@NEWSMAX) August 20, 2026
Vice President JD Vance on the Trump administration’s plan to address the nation’s $40 trillion debt.… pic.twitter.com/ET6yPXJDY4
"So there are a couple of things the President has talked about to try to address this problem," the vice president said. "First of all, he's talked about a sovereign wealth fund because as you know, actually the stock market, the equity market has performed a lot better than the bond market. There's a weird way where American taxpayers are getting fleeced because of the very high debt charges. By the way, very high debt charges that started under the Biden administration. This is a crisis that we inherited and I think has gotten better. I'm not saying that everything is fixed, but it has certainly gotten better."
"The other thing is that Scott Bessent, the amazing Treasury Secretary, he has had a very discreet plan, of course, supported by the President of the United States to get the United States to a point where our economy is growing faster than our debt," Vance said. "And if you look, we are on track. So even though the debt is too high, even though we inherited this debt bomb from the Biden administration, we actually do have a plan to get the economy growing faster than the debt. And that's the most important thing."
"The issue that we've had under the Biden administration and what we're still kind of dealing with is that the debt was growing faster than American GDP. That's the problem. That's something that we're certainly fixing every single day in the Trump administration," he added. "But even though the media doesn't cover this, I'm glad you're asking this question because Scott Bessent is very much on top of it. He knows it's a problem and he's got the President's empowerment to do something about it."
It remains unclear what the administration’s plan actually entails beyond pursuing stronger economic growth. That growth is certainly welcome, but it cannot do all the work. At some point, America will have to confront its unwillingness to restrain spending, or reform the entitlement programs pushing the debt ever higher. With the Democratic Socialists of America on the rise, however, that willingness appears to be at an all-time low.
Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump’s leadership and bold policies, America’s economy is back on track.
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