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   From: no-budgets@democrats.usa   
      
   The United States is on a pace to add trillions of dollars to its national   
   debt over the next decade, borrowing money more quickly than previously   
   expected, at a time when big legislative fights loom over taxes and   
   spending.   
      
   The Congressional Budget Office said on Tuesday that the U.S. national   
   debt is poised to top $56 trillion by 2034, as rising spending and   
   interest expenses outpace tax revenues. The mounting costs of Social   
   Security and Medicare continue to weigh on the nation’s finances, along   
   with rising interest rates, which have made it more costly for the federal   
   government to borrow huge sums of money.   
      
   As a result, the United States is expected to continue running large   
   budget deficits, which are the gap between what America spends and what it   
   receives through taxes and other revenue. The budget deficit in 2024 is   
   projected to be $1.9 trillion, up from a forecast earlier this year of   
   $1.6 trillion. Over the next 10 years, the annual deficit is projected to   
   swell to $2.9 trillion. As a share of the economy, debt held by the public   
   in 2034 will be 122 percent of gross domestic product, up from 99 percent   
   in 2024.   
      
   The new projections come as lawmakers are gearing up for a big tax and   
   spending battle. Most of the 2017 Trump tax cuts will expire in 2025,   
   forcing lawmakers to decide whether to renew them and, if so, how to pay   
   for them. The United States will also again have to deal with a statutory   
   cap on how much it can borrow. Congress agreed last year to suspend the   
   debt limit and allow the federal government to keep borrowing until next   
   January.   
      
   Those fights over tax and spending will be taking place at a time when the   
   country’s fiscal backdrop is increasingly grim. An aging population   
   continues to weigh on America’s old-age and retirement programs, which are   
   facing long-term shortfalls that could result in reduced retirement and   
   medical benefits.   
      
   Both Democrats and Republicans expressed concern about the national debt   
   as inflation and interest rates soared over the last few years, but   
   spending has been difficult to corral. The C.B.O. report assumes that the   
   2017 tax cuts are not extended, but that is highly unlikely. President   
   Biden has said he will extend some of the tax cuts, including those for   
   low- and middle-income earners, and former President Donald J. Trump has   
   said he will extend all of them if he wins in November. Fully extending   
   the tax cuts could cost around about $5 trillion over 10 years.   
      
   The bigger projected deficits were largely driven by the Biden   
   administration’s decision to cancel more than $100 billion student loan   
   debt, the cost of new aid packages for Ukraine and Israel and higher-than-   
   expected outlays for Medicaid.   
      
   https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/18/us/politics/us-debt-economy.html   
      
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