US national debt exceeds $32 trillion for first time 

The US national debt topped $32 trillion for the first time ever this week, according to Treasury Department data released on Friday. 

The debt milestone comes two weeks after President Biden signed legislation to suspend the nation’s borrowing limit through the end of 2024. 

Despite the White House and negotiators for House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) agreeing to $1.5 trillion in spending cuts over the next decade, America’s gross national debt is still projected to exceed $50 trillion by 2033 

“We were fortunate to avoid a default under the debt ceiling, but the broader problem is that we keep ignoring the growing debt itself,” Michael A. Peterson, CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, a nonprofit focused on fiscal issues, said in a statement Friday. 

“As we race past $32 trillion with no end in sight, it’s well past time to address the fundamental drivers of our debt, which are mandatory spending growth and the lack of sufficient revenues to fund it,” Peterson argued. 

The $32 trillion milestone came nine years earlier than forecasted prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, thanks in large part to trillions in emergency spending approved by Congress to address the economic effect of widely ordered shutdowns.

The Federal Reserve’s raising of interest rates since last year to combat historic inflation is also expected to make interest payments on the national debt more costly than they have been for decades.

The Peterson Foundation projects that without significant changes in government spending habits, the US is “on a path to add a staggering $127 trillion to the debt over the next 30 years. By 2053, nearly 40% of all federal revenues will be spent on interest alone.” 

The group recommends establishing a bipartisan fiscal commission “to look at all parts of the budget” for cuts.