Michael A. Peterson, CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, commented today as the U.S. national debt surpassed $37 trillion. Peterson said:

“The national debt soaring past $37 trillion sends yet another clear message about America’s unsustainable fiscal path. Our national debt is now greater than the economies of the entire Eurozone and China, combined.

“These trillion-dollar milestones are piling up at a rapid rate. We are now adding a trillion more to the national debt every 5 months. That’s more than twice as fast as the average rate over the last 25 years.

“During a time of economic growth, it is highly irresponsible to run deficits this large, currently approximately 7% of GDP. At this pace, we will run through the recent $5 trillion debt limit increase — the largest in history — in just two years. We are no longer in a great recession or a global pandemic, but our fiscal policy keeps acting like we are.

“Our growing debt slowly damages our economy and the prospects of the next generation. As the government borrows trillion after trillion, it puts upward pressure on interest rates, adding costs for everyone and reducing private sector investment. Within the federal budget, the debt crowds out important priorities and creates a damaging cycle of more borrowing, more interest costs, and even more borrowing.

“While the sheer size of our debt is shocking, it’s even more troubling that lawmakers continue to disregard the damage it does to our economy. The recent budget reconciliation package took our fiscal outlook from horrible to worse, adding more than $4 trillion to deficits over the next decade — or even more if temporary tax cuts are extended, or spending cuts are rolled back.

“As our debt continues to rise, at some point the financial markets will lose confidence in our ability to overcome the politics to solve this problem. International lenders are watching, and all three ratings agencies have now downgraded U.S. credit. The question is: how many more trillions will we add before we decide to stop?

“Despite today’s unfortunate milestone, it’s not too late to act. We should reform our budget before the damage is made even worse. Policymakers have many well-known options to stabilize our debt and put us on a stronger path for the next generation.”