The total national debt has surpassed $31 trillion, according to Treasury Department data released Tuesday.
While it has been steadily climbing over the years, the debt significantly grew under former President Trump and has continued to do so under President Biden due to pandemic-related spending.
The data shows that during Biden’s tenure, the national debt has increased by more than $3 trillion. It stood at $27.7 trillion the day he took office.
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget projects that number to skyrocket in the coming years.
“We estimate the Biden Administration has enacted policies through legislation and executive actions that will add more than $4.8 trillion to deficits between 2021 and 2031, or nearly $2.5 trillion when excluding the effects of the American Rescue Plan,” CRFB said in a September report. “This is on top of the trillions of dollars we were projected to borrow before President Biden took office.”
Indeed, the debt climbed by about $7.8 trillion under former President Trump, and by $8.6 trillion under former President Obama.
Economists warned the ballooning national debt is a major cause for concern.
“I think the point here is if you weren’t worried before about the debt before, you should be — and if you were worried before, you should be even more worried," Princeton economist Owen Zidar told the Associated Press.
CRFB’s president, Maya MacGuineas, said “no one should be proud of” the new record.
“In the past 18 months, we’ve witnessed inflation rise to a 40-year high, interest rates climbing in part to combat this inflation, and several budget-busting pieces of legislation and executive actions," MacGuineas added. “We are addicted to debt."
In 2010, the U.S. military’s top officer, Adm. Mike Mullen, warned the “national debt is our biggest national security threat.” At the time the debt was roughly $13.5 trillion.
— Lucas Tomlinson (@LucasFoxNews) October 4, 2022
Today, it’s $31 trillion.