When asked if U.S. Treasury securities will continue to be a good investment as the national debt increases, Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) said that, over time, if the U.S. keeps “borrowing 30% of what we spend here, bad business plan.” He added that he does not see “any of the people that have been running this place that have a clue how to fix it.”
On Mar. 15 at the U.S. Capitol, CNS News asked Sen. Braun, “Biden’s budget calls for increasing the debt to $50.7 trillion by 2033. Do you think U.S. Treasury securities will continue to be a good investment if we keep running up the debt?”
Sen Braun responded, “I’m not sure about your figure but it’s going up. Let’s put it that way. I think that the full faith and credit of this country is going to be in place, but, over time, if we keep living off of future generations by borrowing 30% of what we spend here, bad business plan.”
“So what that’s going to mean is we are going to be paying higher interest rates, increasingly, because it gets riskier, even when you are the biggest economy in the world,” said the senator. “You can’t abuse it year after year through the federal government. And, sadly, I don’t see any of the people that have been running this place that have a clue how to fix it or have the political will to do it.”
As reported by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, “The Biden Budget would increase debt held by the public from $25.9 trillion in 2023 to $43.6 trillion by 2033. Gross debt rises from $32.7 trillion at the close of this year to $50.7 trillion by 2033.”
The debt held by the public as of March 13, 2023 is $24.6 trillion and the gross debt (public debt plus intragovernmental holdings) currently is $31.4 trillion.
When the government spends more money than it takes in, it is called deficit spending. To get those funds, the Treasury sells securities with interest. These securities can include Treasury Bills, Treasury Bonds, and Treasury Notes.
The national debt (gross debt), as explained by the Treasury Department, “is the accumulation of this borrowing along with associated interest owed to investors who purchased these securities.”
Under the Biden budget proposal, the national debt is projected to rise to $50.7 trillion by 2033.
