Total United States government debt has surpassed $40 trillion for the first time, according to the Treasury Department, raising fresh concerns over the country’s worsening fiscal position as spending on social safety-net programmes and interest payments continues to outpace government revenues.

The Treasury’s latest daily cash and debt statement showed total public debt outstanding at $40.047 trillion on Tuesday, according to Reuters.

Of the total, $32.266 trillion was held by the public, while $7.782 trillion represented intragovernmental debt holdings.

The U.S. federal government’s debt has more than doubled in less than a decade, rising from $19.95 trillion when President Donald Trump first took office in January 2017.

About one-third of the increase came during two years of heavy government borrowing to finance the COVID-19 pandemic response under Trump and former President Joe Biden.

The remainder reflects fiscal policies adopted by both administrations, alongside longstanding imbalances between government spending and tax revenues.

Budget watchdog groups had anticipated the debt surpassing $40 trillion for weeks and have issued warnings that the country could face a full-blown debt crisis unless lawmakers address the widening fiscal gap through measures including higher taxes, spending cuts, or a combination of both.

“Forty trillion dollars of debt doesn’t exist solely on the government’s ledgers; it is felt throughout the economy and finds its way to the pocketbooks of people one way or another,” said Maya MacGuineas, president of the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible ⁠Federal Budget.
“The more we borrow, the more we exacerbate inflation, squeeze out other priorities in the budget, and leave ourselves vulnerable to emergencies at home and turmoil abroad,” MacGuineas said in a statement just after the Treasury data was released.

The $40 trillion debt milestone was reached less than five months after U.S. government debt crossed $39 trillion. The debt has also quadrupled in less than two decades, after taking until 1981 to reach $1 trillion for the first time.

“It is staggering how predictable the fiscal decline of a global power can become,” MacGuineas added.

Meanwhile, global U.S. creditors may be becoming more cautious, with foreign investors, who hold nearly one-third of U.S. Treasury securities, reducing their demand over the past year.