U.S. National Debt Eclipses $31 Trillion For First Time

The new date is Oct 4, 2022.

The Treasury Department said Tuesday that America's national debt had crossed the $30 billion mark for the first time.

After passing the $30 trillion mark in January, the U.S. gross national debt closed at $31.2 trillion on Monday.

For the first two months of this year, the government ran a surplus, and for the entire month of January, the monthly federal deficit was much smaller.

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The debt ceiling needs to be raised by early next year in order to avoid a government default. The federal borrowing limit will be raised in 2021. If Republicans take control of the House or the Senate before the deadline, there will be a fight over raising the debt ceiling.

The government tried to support the economy with record levels of federal borrowing. The national debt reached $30 trillion by the end of January, compared to $22.7 trillion at the end of the year. The debt was $10.6 trillion when Barack Obama was president.