By Stephen Dinan, November 12, 2015

The federal government has piled up debt since the latest budget deal was signed into law, tacking $462 billion onto the national credit card since Nov. 2 as the Treasury Department replenished its funds and began another round of borrowing to take it all the way into 2017.

The debt has continued to rise, albeit more slowly, in the days since, putting the president on track to come close to the $20 trillion mark by the time he leaves office in January 2017.

Meanwhile, the early deficit numbers for fiscal year 2016, which began Oct. 1, are already looking more grim.

The government ran a deficit of $136 billion last month, up 12 percent compared with the previous October, as spending ballooned and taxes remained nearly flat. It was the worst October since 2010, when the government was still spending on the stimulus and was on pace for a deficit of more than $1 trillion that year.

The Treasury Department did not respond to a request for comment on the debt spike, but analysts said it wasn’t unexpected.
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Despite the massive spread of red ink, the government has been getting away with small debt service payments because of historically low interest rates over the past several years.

But as rates rise, so will those payments — from about $220 billion a year now to $755 billion a year in a decade.

The size of the debt has begun to take a starring role in the 2016 presidential campaigns. In the Republican debate Tuesday, Fox Business Network prodded candidates on their plans.
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But it was just such a freeze that Congress rejected this year, forcing the budget deal that allowed for unlimited borrowing for another 16 months.

Mr. Bixby said Congress should use those months to work on long-term fixes rather than preparing for another knock-down fight over the debt limit.

“The way to keep the debt from going up is to change the policies
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Such spikes are normal. In 2013, when a debt deal was reached, the government added $328 billion to its borrowing in one day. After the August 2011 debt deal, the amount rose $238 billion in one day.

But the Nov. 2 spike topped them all, at $339 billion in one day.

Of that, about $199 billion is public debt, which is money borrowed from outside sources, and $140 billion is borrowing from within government accounts.

As of Monday, the gross total debt stood at $18.6 trillion, with $13.4 trillion of that public debt borrowed from the outside.

When Mr. Obama took office in 2009, total debt stood at $10.6 trillion.

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