by Calculated Risk on 3/02/2006 02:15:00 AM

After five months, Fiscal 2006 continues to set new records for the YTD increase in National Debt. For the first five months of fiscal year 2006, the National Debt increased $337.2 Billion to $8.27 Trillion as of Feb 28, 2006.


Click on graph for larger image.

The previous record for the first five months was in fiscal 2005 with an increase in the National Debt of $334.1 Billion.

Currently Treasury Secretary Snow is struggling to keep the debt under the "debt ceiling". The Charlston Gazette editorialized:

TREASURY Secretary John Snow says Congress must raise the federal debt limit to nearly $9 trillion by mid-March or the U.S. government will default on its obligations. This will be the fourth large hike in the debt ceiling in five years.

Washington Republicans are in a sweat, because the impending vote may spotlight outrageous overspending that has occurred under President Bush, who insists on gigantic tax giveaways to the rich amid gigantic military spending.

As we’ve noted before, the federal debt was only $1 trillion under Democratic President Jimmy Carter — but it quadrupled during the Republican Reagan-Bush years — then the U.S. budget was balanced again under Democratic President Bill Clinton.

During the 1990s, Congress followed pay-as-you-go rules, banning new spending that lacked revenue to pay for it. This discipline slowly wiped out yearly deficits. But the businesslike policy was abandoned under Bush, to allow more militarism and more tax cuts for the affluent.

To avoid the embarrassment of voting for higher debt limits, House GOP leaders adopted a sneaky rule that lets the ceiling climb automatically, without a House vote. But the Senate must vote for the $9 trillion level. Some national observers expect Senate GOP leaders to stifle debate in an attempt to accomplish the action quietly.

We hope West Virginia’s senators draw public notice to this new plunge into the hole. Americans need to know that the current one-party rule in Washington lives on credit cards — and today’s children will be stuck with the tab.

Each month I will plot the YTD increase in the National Debt and compare it to the proceeding years. I expect fiscal 2006 to set a new record for the annual increase in the National Debt.