The U.S. is facing $34 trillion in debt going into 2024 as deficits continue to increase under President Joe Biden.
As of Dec. 29, 2023, the federal government owed $34.001 trillion in debt, with around $7.06 trillion of that being intragovernmental and the other $26.9 trillion being debt held by the public, according to the Treasury Department. The jump in debt follows huge spending in fiscal year 2023, which resulted in around a $2 trillion deficit when the president’s failed student loan forgiveness plan is properly accounted for, compared to $1 trillion for fiscal year 2022. (RELATED: Americans’ Finances Took A Beating In 2023 Amidst Persistent Inflation And High Interest Rates)
Due to the high level of debt held by the U.S. government and the frequent debt limit and government funding crises, top credit agency Fitch Ratings downgraded the U.S. Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating from “AAA” to “AA+” in August of last year. The U.S. could lose its last AAA soon, following Moody’s placing the sovereign debt outlook on negative instead of stable in November.
Less than $89 billion from a $34 trillion federal debt: pic.twitter.com/y5dpyB1Knl
— E.J. Antoni, Ph.D. (@RealEJAntoni) December 29, 2023
“As you know, the President has — when it comes to the deficit, he has done a record amount of work in reducing the deficit, as you just laid out,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a press conference in October. “And one of the things that we have seen is that congressional [Republicans] continue to do the trickle-down economics, which we know — we know it doesn’t work — right? — What you’ve heard us call ‘MAGA-nomics,’ right?”
The president has pushed a number of high-spending policies during his tenure, including the American Rescue Plan passed in March 2021, which authorized 1.9 trillion in new spending, and the Inflation Reduction Act passed in August 2023, which approved another $750 billion.
Biden signed a bipartisan debt limit bill on June 5, 2023, two days before the federal government was set to run out of money. The bill allows the U.S. to take out unlimited debt through Jan. 1, 2025, while capping non-defense discretionary spending for fiscal year 2024 at 2022 levels.
The White House directed the Daily Caller News Foundation to previous statements made by Jean-Pierre.
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