How Much Debt Did The Obama Administration Add

President Donald Trump claimed Feb. 15 that former President Barack Obama "put on more debt on this country than every president in the history of our country combined."

Verdict: True

Public debt more than than doubled in the eight years of Obama's presidency, ascent from $6.3 trillion to $14.4 trillion. Gross federal debt – which includes the amount owed to Social Security and other government accounts – nearly, just did not quite, double.

Fact Check:

Trump held a press briefing Feb. 15 at the White Business firm to declare a national emergency at the southern border. After his remarks, Trump took questions from reporters, including i about his program to combat the growing national debt.

Trump said economic "growth will straighten information technology out" and criticized Obama's management of the debt. "When I took over, we had one man that put on more debt than every other president combined," he said.

The national debt tin can be divided into ii parts – the amount owed to the public, including individual citizens, strange governments and international investors, and what'south known as intragovernmental holdings, the amount owed to the Social Security Trust Fund and other government accounts.

While the national debt has been increasing for decades due to virtually-annual budget deficits, it grew dramatically under Obama, increasing from $10.6 trillion in January 2009 to $19.9 trillion in January 2017, according to Treasury Department figures.

This is the largest dollar increase nether whatever one president past a considerable margin, but not quite as large every bit the debt Obama inherited. The U.S. added $9.3 trillion over his 8 years in office, $ane.three trillion short of doubling. Under President George W. Bush, the debt rose by just under $v trillion – the second-largest increase of any president.

The public debt, which accounts for nearly three-quarters of the national debt, did double nether Obama, increasing from $6.3 trillion to $fourteen.four trillion.

When asked for comment, the White House did non specify what measure of debt Trump was citing, but economists often speak of public, as opposed to total, debt. "Nosotros and other economists tend to prefer 'debt held past the public,' which excludes debts the government owes to itself," Patrick Newton, a spokesperson for the Committee for a Responsible Federal Upkeep (CRFB), told The Daily Caller News Foundation in an email.

What caused the national debt to balloon under Obama?

Besides wartime spending in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Groovy Recession took a major price. Every bit taxation revenues declined and federal spending rose on safety-internet programs like unemployment insurance and food stamps, the deficit regularly topped $ane trillion a year.

Obama signed into police the American Recovery and Reinvestment Human activity, a financial stimulus package that increased the deficit by $827 billion between 2009 and 2014 through a combination of tax cuts and federal spending, co-ordinate to the Congressional Budget Role (CBO).

Bush-era revenue enhancement cuts, extended then made largely permanent under Obama, also contributed to the debt. The Budget Control Human action, on the other manus, reigned in deficit spending.

Newton said that Congress shares responsibleness for the debt incurred under Obama. "It's unfair to attribute the increase entirely to Obama. It's Congress that writes tax and spending laws. The President has little power on their ain to affect the debt," he told TheDCNF in an email.

He pointed out that the debt was already projected to increase earlier Obama assumed function. Robert Bixby, executive director of the Concord Coalition, a group that advocates for fiscal responsibility, made the aforementioned signal, citing federal spending on baby boomers every bit one example. "During Obama'south get-go term, the baby boomer generation begin[south] to qualify for full Social Security benefits and Medicare at age 65. Spending on these programs went upward as more beneficiaries began to qualify for benefits," he told TheDCNF in an email.

While Trump has been critical of Obama'south management of the debt, information technology has connected to grow apace nether his watch. In Trump'south first two years in office, the debt has grown from $19.nine trillion to $22 trillion. The CBO projects that the debt will grow to $23.5 trillion past 2020 and will exceed $30 trillion by 2026.

The CRFB warns that if the debt continues to rise, the U.S. will be at adventure of a fiscal crisis and may exist forced to make pregnant tax hikes and spending cuts.

Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats issued a similar alert last year while testifying in front end of the Senate Intelligence Committee. "This situation is unsustainable as I recollect we all know, and represents a dire threat to our economic and national security," he said.

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