About The National Debt

$15 trillion. If you needed a single number to represent Washington’s decades of dysfunction before President Donald J. Trump was elected, that’s a good place to start.  In the 20 years from 1997 to 2017—President Trump’s first in office—America’s national debt nearly quadrupled from just over $5 trillion to more than $20 trillion. Those skyrocketing deficits accompanied a Federal Government that was increasingly unaccountable to its citizens, putting favored interests ahead of U.S. taxpayers. In 2008, then-Sen. Barack Obama called the $4 trillion in debt accumulated under President George W. Bush “unpatriotic.” Once in the White House, President Obama himself then swelled the national debt by nearly $9 trillion. After losing the presidency in 2016, Democrats once again ramped up their tough talk on the deficit, this time as a means of attacking President Trump and Congressional Republicans.  Dan Cirucci