The national debt has exceeded $20 trillion for the first time ever — rising the same day President Donald Trump signed a bill into law suspending the debt ceiling and allowing unlimited federal borrowing.
The debt ceiling had been frozen at about $19.84 trillion since mid-March, and the Treasury Department was forced to use "extraordinary measures" to prevent borrowing from exceeding that level, the Washington Examiner reported.
The new law allows regular borrowing. Treasury released the new $20.1 trillion figure Monday.
"Surpassing $20 trillion in debt is the latest indicator of our nation's dire fiscal condition," Michael Peterson, president and CEO of the fiscally conservative Peter G. Peterson Foundation, told The Hill.
The debt burden would lead the government to spend $6 trillion on interest over the next decade, and "That's more than we will invest in our kids," Peterson said.
"So, in effect, we have decided to spend more on our past than on our future," he said.
Republican Study Committee Chairman Mark Walker, R-N.C., told The Hill that before Congress agrees to increase the debt limit again, "it is imperative we pass new laws that will change this disturbing trend instead of ignoring the root cause of our nation’s debt problems."
The new debt figure includes $5.5 trillion in intragovernmental debt, which is debt that one part of the government owes another, and doesn't impact governmental finances the same way, The Hill reported, citing the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. The total of debt held by the public stands at roughly $14.6 trillion.
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