The U.S. Congressional Budget Office said Monday the federal government has borrowed more than a trillion dollars in debt only six months into the fiscal year.
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget released a report pointing out that those figures amount to an average of $6 billion per day so far in fiscal year 2023.
\u201cOur fiscal challenges will only become more difficult the longer we wait to do anything,\u201d said Maya MacGuineas, president of the CRFB. \u201cIn just five years, the national debt will surpass its record as a share of the economy \u2013 set just after World War II, when we had no choice but to borrow to win the war. However, we\u2019re in no such emergency now. It\u2019s long past time that policymakers figure out a way to sustainably finance their priorities, not just add the costs to the national credit card.\u201d
The data figures come as Republicans and Democrats approach a deadline to raise the debt ceiling or face defaulting on the national debt, an unprecedented event that would have huge ramifications for the U.S. and global economy.
Republicans have pointed to those figures as proof of the need for spending cuts.
President Joe Biden, though, has shown no interest in negotiating. Democrats argue the fiscal deadline is too risky to play with in negotiations.
The CRFB said if nothing changes, the annual deficit will hit $3 trillion by the end of this decade.
\u201cThat amount of borrowing outside of a national emergency is plainly unacceptable,\u201d MacGuineas said. \u201cBudgeting requires tradeoffs \u2013 often painful ones that politicians don\u2019t want to grapple with. However, that is what they were elected to do, and they should consider the needs of both current and future Americans in upcoming fiscal negotiations. We simply cannot afford to ignore our unsustainable borrowing any longer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n