US national debt soars past $37 trillion -- years sooner than expected

The US national debt has climbed past $37 trillion — a record sum that shows how quickly the federal government’s borrowing has accelerated and how rising interest costs are rippling through the economy.

The new figure appears in a Treasury Department report released Tuesday that tracks the government’s daily finances and shows the nation reaching the staggering threshold years sooner than previously expected.

In January 2020, the Congressional Budget Office projected that gross federal debt would not exceed $37 trillion until after fiscal 2030. Instead, the milestone arrived far earlier as deficits piled up faster than anticipated. 4

The soaring debt is forecast to be exacerbated in the coming years after President Donald Trump signed into law his “Big Beautiful Bill” which ex