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$35.3 trillion.

This massive sum is our national debt – representing more than $100,000 for every man, woman, and child, and nearly $270,000 for every taxpayer.

While this number is almost impossible to comprehend, it poses one of the greatest threats to our nation’s stability, security, and survival.

To put this issue in perspective, our debt-to-GDP ratio is a staggering 121 percent – meaning our debt is more than a fifth larger than our nation’s total annual economic output. By comparison, our debt-to-GDP ratio at the end of World War II was 106 percent, the record high prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As our debt balloons, the costs of borrowing these funds will continue to rise, crowding out spending on vital services. In fact, through the first six months of fiscal year 2024, our country spent more taxpayer money servicing our debt – to the tune of $440 billion – than on funding our military.

When faced with this reality, Tennesseans and Americans will probably wonder: How did we get on the path to fiscal disaster?

Of course, $35.3 trillion in debt doesn’t just appear overnight. Each year, the federal deficit – the annual difference between government spending and taxpayer money collected by Washington – is tacked on to our national debt. And under the Biden-Harris administration, this deficit spending has exploded.

Last fiscal year, the federal deficit was nearly $1.7 trillion, up more than 21 percent from $1.4 trillion in 2022. In fiscal year 2021, meanwhile, the federal deficit reached a whopping $2.7 trillion. Although fiscal year 2021 overlapped with the final months of the Trump administration, much of this spending occurred under President Biden, including with his $1.9 trillion “American Rescue Plan,” which many economists identify as the driving force of this administration’s four-decade high inflation rate.

In fact, excluding the emergency COVID spending in 2020, deficit spending under the Biden-Harris administration is at its highest point in American history, rivaled only by the deficit spending during the first years of the Obama-Biden administration. Before congressional Republicans fought for and secured serious spending cuts, that administration ran annual deficits as high as $1.4 trillion between fiscal years 2009-2012.

 With deficits soaring again, our country needs a serious course correction. Yet, under their 2025 budget proposal, the Biden-Harris administration has called for $86 trillion in spending over the next 10 years that would increase our national debt by $18 trillion.

Instead of fiscal recklessness, our country needs fiscal responsibility – which is why I’ve introduced legislation to slash federal spending by 1 percent, 2 percent, and 5 percent for non-defense, non-homeland security, and non-veterans affairs discretionary spending. At a time when growth in government hiring is now outpacing growth in private sector hiring, Congress must also address the ballooning size of the federal government, which now employs approximately 2.2 million bureaucrats, by freezing salaries and hiring.

While there are many more steps that need to be taken to put America on a better fiscal trajectory, these moves would provide crucial savings for the American taxpayer. And if we don’t find ways to save, it’s our children and grandchildren who will be left paying the bill.

(Marsha Blackburn represents Tennessee in the U.S. Senate)