The national debt of the United States surpassed $35 trillion for the very first time on Monday, prompting GOP lawmakers to renew calls for changes to rein in government spending.
House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington (R-TX)’s panel released a brief report that explained how the “gross national debt” at the $35 trillion mark equated to $104,497 per person, $266,275 per household, or $483,889 per child.
The report noted how the debt was at $32.65 trillion one year ago, which means it increased by $2.35 trillion over the past 12 months or — when broken down further — $268 million in new debt per hour.
“Today, we grieve yet another dubious milestone in the fiscal decline of the most powerful and prosperous nation in history,” Arrington said in a statement. He added, “I believe Republican leadership in 2025 is our last best hope to restore fiscal responsibility before it’s too late.”
The report pointed to the House Budget Committee’s fiscal 2025 budget resolution and said it “provides a much-needed roadmap on the path toward fiscal responsibility, economic freedom, and unleashing prosperity in America again.”
Shortly after 5 p.m. ET on Monday, the tracker page run by the Treasury Department showed the national debt at $35,001,278,179,208. The House Budget Committee’s report noted that the agency reports the amount of debt outstanding at the end of the previous business day.
To maintain the national debt, the federal government gets charged interest for use of money from lenders, the Treasury Department says on its website. As of June 2024, the agency notes, it cost $868 billion to maintain, or 17% of total federal spending in the current fiscal year.
Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA), a former chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, warned the national debt is on track to reach $36 trillion by mid-November — which would be shortly after this year’s presidential election.
“The Biden-Harris administration’s push for more out-of-control spending is unacceptable, and further imperils our great Nation,” Perry added in a post to X.
Also on X, economist Peter Schiff explained how the national debt has risen more than $7.2 trillion since President Joe Biden took office in January 2021. He said it took 43 presidents 215 years to add the first $7.2 trillion while it took Biden just 3.5 years.
Schiff noted there was a “single-term record” of $7.8 trillion added to the national debt when former President Donald Trump was in office from January 2017 to January 2021, during which time COVID relief spending took off. “Biden is on track to break that record,” he added.
The national debt hit $34 trillion for the first time in January.
Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), chairwoman of the upper chamber’s Appropriations Committee, said in a recent post to X that Trump’s “tax cuts gave handouts to billionaires that added trillions to our national debt.”
She added that “Democrats are working to make sure billionaires pay their fair share in taxes. The difference is clear.”
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[[{“value”:”
The national debt of the United States surpassed $35 trillion for the very first time on Monday, prompting GOP lawmakers to renew calls for changes to rein in government spending.
House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington (R-TX)’s panel released a brief report that explained how the “gross national debt” at the $35 trillion mark equated to $104,497 per person, $266,275 per household, or $483,889 per child.
The report noted how the debt was at $32.65 trillion one year ago, which means it increased by $2.35 trillion over the past 12 months or — when broken down further — $268 million in new debt per hour.
“Today, we grieve yet another dubious milestone in the fiscal decline of the most powerful and prosperous nation in history,” Arrington said in a statement. He added, “I believe Republican leadership in 2025 is our last best hope to restore fiscal responsibility before it’s too late.”
The report pointed to the House Budget Committee’s fiscal 2025 budget resolution and said it “provides a much-needed roadmap on the path toward fiscal responsibility, economic freedom, and unleashing prosperity in America again.”
Shortly after 5 p.m. ET on Monday, the tracker page run by the Treasury Department showed the national debt at $35,001,278,179,208. The House Budget Committee’s report noted that the agency reports the amount of debt outstanding at the end of the previous business day.
To maintain the national debt, the federal government gets charged interest for use of money from lenders, the Treasury Department says on its website. As of June 2024, the agency notes, it cost $868 billion to maintain, or 17% of total federal spending in the current fiscal year.
Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA), a former chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, warned the national debt is on track to reach $36 trillion by mid-November — which would be shortly after this year’s presidential election.
“The Biden-Harris administration’s push for more out-of-control spending is unacceptable, and further imperils our great Nation,” Perry added in a post to X.
Also on X, economist Peter Schiff explained how the national debt has risen more than $7.2 trillion since President Joe Biden took office in January 2021. He said it took 43 presidents 215 years to add the first $7.2 trillion while it took Biden just 3.5 years.
Schiff noted there was a “single-term record” of $7.8 trillion added to the national debt when former President Donald Trump was in office from January 2017 to January 2021, during which time COVID relief spending took off. “Biden is on track to break that record,” he added.
The national debt hit $34 trillion for the first time in January.
Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), chairwoman of the upper chamber’s Appropriations Committee, said in a recent post to X that Trump’s “tax cuts gave handouts to billionaires that added trillions to our national debt.”
She added that “Democrats are working to make sure billionaires pay their fair share in taxes. The difference is clear.”
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