According to new data from the US Treasury Department, the US national debt has continued to climb, increasing by $2.6 trillion in the six months through December bringing the total figure to $33.8 trillion.

According to the Treasury, the increase is attributable to such causes as tax cuts, stimulus programs, increased spending by the government, and decreasing tax revenues.

Last week, Republican Congressman John James said, “The national debt just exceeded $100,000 per citizen. This should send a message to the White House that this reckless federal spending is at a breaking point.”

As of November 2023, the cost to maintain this debt was $169 billion, which was equivalent to 16% of total federal spending, according to the latest fiscal data.

As of the end of October, the interest payments on the national debt were estimated to have risen above $1 trillion per year, according to an analysis by Bloomberg using the latest Treasury data.

An analysis by Bank of America (BOA) last month, found that over the next decade, public debt could surge over $20 trillion. Over the next ten years, it is likely to increase by $5.2 billion daily, which will bring the total to about $54 trillion by 2023.

In January of 2023, the United States officially breached its congressionally mandated debt ceiling, which was set at $31.4 trillion. Following months of warnings from the Treasury of a potentially devastating default, in June President Joe Biden signed a bipartisan debt bill which would allow the limit to be lifted until January of 2025.

As a result of that bill, the government was in essence allowed to continue to borrow in unlimited amounts until January of 2025. Less than two weeks after the bill was passed, the total national debt increased to $32 trillion, and it has continued to grow since then.

As a result of the situation, both Fitch and Moody’s international credit ratings agencies felt they were forced to downgrade their outlooks for the US this year.