Spending shocker: CBO’s latest debt projection should stun even Washington

The most staggering thing about a recent report about the nation’s fiscal health wasn’t that lawmakers must lift the debt ceiling this summer or the nation could default.

We’ve known that for a while – although the drop-dead date is fudgy at best.

The most shocking thing is what shouldn’t be shocking. It hasn’t been shocking for decades now. And each time we’re still shocked. But a few years later, we’re even more shocked and the old shock seems passé.

So, the most shocking thing? 

The sheer level of debt that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that the U.S. will carry in the next few years.

The current debt the U.S. owes is $31.4 trillion. But the CBO estimates the federal government will accumulate an eye-popping $19 trillion in debt over the next decade. New laws passed by Congress since last year will account for $1.5 trillion of that debt. The CBO augers that the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the infrastructure bill will tack on an additional $3…