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The U.S. national debt has surpassed $30 trillion according to the latest data released by the Treasury Department, marking a new milestone as government spending and borrowing continues to surge.
The dome of the U.S. Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite / AP Newsroom)
The new record is for the government’s total debt outstanding, which includes $23.487 trillion in debt held by the public and another $6.525 trillion in intra-government debt such as federal trust funds and other accounts.
Spending by Congress was already increasing at a steady clip for years before the coronavirus sparked a borrowing surge of $5 trillion in pandemic relief that exacerbated the rate.
“$30 trillion in debt is an obscene number, but what’s even more depressing is the fact that most politicians in both parties don’t really care,” Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., said in a statement on the milestone. “Someone is going to have to pay that money when these politicians are long gone, and — spoiler alert — it won’t be paid by them but instead by our kids.”
“Ignoring the debt won’t solve the crisis, it will only make things worse,” Sasse added. “We need to cut the budget-busting spending sprees and do real entitlement reform.”
This story is developing and will be updated.
