U.S. National Debt Hits $37 Trillion Ahead of Projections Due to Pandemic Spending and Tax Cuts
Extraordinary spending under Trump and Biden, combined with 2024 tax cuts, accelerates debt growth years before expectations.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced that the total national debt has reached $37 trillion, a record level that had been projected for after 2030. However, the COVID-19 pandemic and the massive government spending packages that followed pushed the figure to this milestone much earlier.
According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), extraordinary spending under Presidents Trump and Biden, along with legislation signed by Trump in 2024—which included tax cuts and spending packages totaling an estimated $4.1 trillion over 10 years—were among the primary drivers of the rapid debt increase.
Financial institutions such as the Peter G. Peterson Foundation warn that continued borrowing raises interest costs, drives up mortgage and auto loan rates, and puts pressure on both investment and wages.
U.S. Debt Soars by $1 Trillion Every Five Months
The debt has risen at an accelerated pace in 2024:
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$34 trillion in January
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$35 trillion in July
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$36 trillion in November
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$37 trillion in August — adding roughly $1 trillion every five months.
The budget deficit in July rose 20% compared to last year, despite higher customs revenues thanks to tariffs imposed by Trump, which brought in $21 billion in a single month.
China remains the second-largest foreign holder of U.S. debt after Japan, with holdings of about $770 billion, equivalent to roughly 2% of the total U.S. debt.
