Treasury Department confirms US has surpassed $37 trillion in debt

The Treasury Department on Tuesday confirmed that the United States has exceeded $37 trillion in debt, just months after it surpassed $36 trillion.

The new report found that the U.S. exceeded the benchmark years before it was projected to, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Before the pandemic in 2020, the country expected to surpass $37 trillion in debt sometime after 2030, the Associated Press reported.

The benchmark comes after the U.S. passed the $36 trillion debt threshold in November. It also confirms reports last month that the debt surpassed $37 trillion based on the U.S. Debt clock.

The United States also reached $34 trillion in debt in January 2024 and $35 trillion in July 2024. 

Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who is considered the richest man in the world, warned last month that the country was on the edge of going "de facto bankrupt" because the interest payments on the U.S. debt account for 25% of all tax revenue.

"If this continues, America goes de facto bankrupt and all tax revenue will go to paying interest on the national debt with nothing left for anything else," he posted to X at the time.

Musk has not commented on the Treasury Department's latest report.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.