The most recent projections from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) confirm once again that America’s fiscal outlook is on an unsustainable path — increasingly driven by higher interest costs. Growing debt, in addition to the rise in interest rates over the past couple of years, has significantly increased the cost of federal borrowing. In 2023, interest costs on the national debt totaled $658 billion — surpassing most other components of the federal budget.
CBO projects that interest costs in 2024 will total $892 billion — a jump of 36 percent from the previous year and following increases of 35 and 38 percent in each of the two years before that. This year’s high interest bill isn’t a one-year phenomenon, it’s part of a trend that stretches out into the future, as debt continues to climb and relatively high interest rates push up the cost of federal borrowing. Over the next decade,…
