US Senator says $31T debt greatest threat to US not China, Russia

• 

The greatest threat to the United States is not Russia or China, but the $31 trillion national debt, according to US Senator Roger Marshall in a congressional hearing on Wednesday.

"I’m often asked what's the greatest threat our nation faces and I'm here to tell you [that] it's not Russia. It's not China. It's not North Korea. It's not Iran. And no, I love the environment, it's not climate change.  The greatest long-term threat the United States faces is our national debt of $31 trillion and growing," Marshall told the US Senate Budget Committee.

According to Marshall, President Joe Biden has spent more than any other president in US history during his first 20 months in office.

He adds that energy prices have risen by more than 37%, home heating fuel by more than 52%, electricity prices by more than 23%, gasoline by more than 45%, and groceries by more than 19% during the Biden administration.

Read next: The US Is Running Out of Money, Literally (Part I)

At the same time, real wages in the United States are not keeping pace with inflation, according to Marshall. Biden released his budget proposal for the fiscal year 2024 on March 9. The proposal calls for $6.883 trillion in spending and $5.036 trillion in revenue, resulting in a $1.846 trillion deficit.

Biden's budget comes as the United States approaches its debt ceiling, threatening a default on the country's financial obligations unless Congress raises the borrowing limit. His budget proposes cutting the deficit by nearly $3 trillion over the next decade.

Republicans have chastised Biden's proposed budget for failing to cut government spending as part of its economic strategy.

Read next: US debt default might trigger global financial crisis

Last month in February, according to figures issued by the US Department of the Treasury, the national debt of the United States hit a record high of $30.012 trillion, owing to a huge increase in government loans due to the COVID-19 pandemic and higher expenditures of sustaining health care.

When compared to late January 2020, when COVID-19 had not yet affected the US economy, the debt has increased by over $7 trillion.

As a result of the trillions spent fighting the virus, financial experts quoted by US media stated the new maximum was reached many years sooner than the country's government projected.

Recent costs have included increasing unemployment benefit amounts, more support for small firms, and incentive payments, according to the New York Times.

The record US national debt, according to most experts, is not concerning because the country's economy continues to thrive despite the COVID-19 pandemic, and interest rates remain low.