Outstanding Debt
Outstanding marketable debt, which excludes bonds held by the Social Security pension fund and other government entities, stood at $11.3 trillion, or 73 percent of GDP, on Sept. 30, 2012, according to the CBO. As a share of the economy, that’s the most since 1950.
Some of the increased debt was run up during the presidency of George W. Bush, as he cut income tax rates and plunged into war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Federal debt rose to 41 percent of GDP in 2008 from 33 percent in 2001, the year Bush took office. The budget was in surplus in the closing years of his predecessor Bill Clinton’s presidency.
House Republican Conference Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers said U.S. liabilities have surged since as Obama “spent more money than any other president.”
“We need the president to get serious about the out-of- control spending, the record debt that we have accumulated as a country,” the Washington state lawmaker told CNN on Jan. 15.
Obama told reporters on Jan. 14 that the U.S. has made progress “step by step” toward his aim of stabilizing the debt as a proportion of the economy.
Budget Cuts
His administration and Congress have already agreed on about $2.5 trillion in budget cuts over the next decade, he said, including $1.4 trillion in reduced outlays and more than $600 billion in higher taxes on the wealthy.
“We are moving toward our ultimate goal of getting to a $4 trillion reduction,” Obama said.
Spending grew just 0.6 percent from 2009 to 2012, according to data compiled by Bloomberg from government reports.