United States national debt hits $13 trillion!
WASHINGTON - June 3, 2010 - The U.S. federal government is now $13 trillion in the red, the Treasury Department will announce Wednesday - marking the first time the government has sunk that far into debt.
Lawmakers and staffers on Capitol Hill have been awaiting the milestone with macabre fascination for more than a week, and its arrival is likely to complicate efforts for Democrats as they try to pass several emergency spending bills this month.
The department's website on Wednesday showed that the outstanding public debt hit $13.051 trillion as of Tuesday, leaping nearly $60 billion since Friday, the previous day for which figures were released. The department always posts figures a day behind and skipped Monday because it was a federal holiday. A down-to-the-penny tally of the debt will be released by the department Wednesday afternoon.
Several unofficial debt clocks showed the debt crossing the $13 trillion threshold a week ago, based on imprecise estimations, prompting several lawmakers to jump the gun in lamenting its implications for the country's fiscal future.
