The Rising Burden of U.S. Government Debt

The Issue:

Interest payments on federal government debt are projected to reach $892 billion in 2024. This is more than the government is projected to spend on defense and almost a third higher than what the United States spent on debt interest payments in 2023. This increase reflects the combination of the rise in US government debt and higher interest rates. And, even though interest rates are expected to inch lower in the coming years as inflation subsides, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) forecasts that interest payments as a percent of GDP will continue to rise. The extent of this increase was not foreseen even in the past few years — the CBO’s  projections of the interest burden of the debt have been…