On Monday, the U.S. national debt surpassed $35 trillion for the first time ever, reaching an exact figure of $35,001,278,179,208.67, according to new Treasury Department data released in the afternoon. This milestone comes just months after the debt exceeded $34 trillion in early January 2024, and $33 trillion in September 2023. To put this in perspective, 40 years ago, the national debt stood at approximately $907 billion.
The widening federal budget deficit has been driven by rising interest rates, which have increased the cost of servicing existing debt. This issue is further complicated by mandatory spending programs, such as Social Security and Medicare, which are seeing higher costs due to an aging population.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that the federal deficit will reach $1.9 trillion this year. This deficit would rank as the third largest in U.S. history, following the $3.1 trillion deficit in fiscal year 2020 and the $2.7 trillion deficit in fiscal year 2021, which were largely due to pandemic-related relief efforts.