‘There is no silver lining in this trajectory’: Budget watchdog warns of financial, inflation, or currency crisis due to $39 trillion U.S. debt

As U.S. national debt trips over the $39 trillion mark, calls for targets on government borrowing are increasing, as budget watchdogs warn the nation’s fiscal trajectory is increasingly unstable. Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB), appeared before the House Budget Committee yesterday to make the case for why the government—now or in the future—should commit to a benchmark of a deficit-to-GDP at 3%.According to the St. Louis Fed, that figure currently stands at 6%, meaning the government must either significantly curb its spending or meaningfully grow the economy if it wants to bring the balance into closer equilibrium.

MacGuineas said the federal budget is “desperately in need of a course correction.” The figures now attached to the national debt are eye-watering: The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) confirmed earlier this month that the Treasury added another $1 trillion to the federal deficit in the first five months of the year.

The monthly budget review from the CBO, updated to February 2026 and released in the second week of March, showed that the government is estimated to have borrowed........

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