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Which presidents have added the most to national debt?

Steph Whiteside

FILE - The Department of the Treasury's seal outside the Treasury Department building in Washington on May 4, 2021. The national debt is at the core of a dispute about how to raise the government's legal borrowing authority, which could come to a head this summer if the government runs out of accounting maneuvers to keep paying its bills. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

(NewsNation) — House Speaker Kevin McCarthy blamed President Joe Biden for increasing the national debt as he pitched the Republican debt limit bill on Wall Street. But how much have presidents added to the debt?

The national debt is money the U.S. has borrowed to pay expenses, and according to the U.S. Treasury, the country has carried debt since the days of the founding fathers, coming out of the Revolutionary War with $75 million in debt from purchasing war materials.


Biden is far from the only president to add to the debt. Since Jan. 20, 2001, more than 80 percent of the current outstanding debt has been accrued.

Here’s how the rankings shake out for recent administrations, based on total amount of debt:

  1. Barack Obama
    $9.3 trillion over 8 years
    ($1.1 trillion per year)
  2. Donald Trump
    $7.8 trillion over 4 years
    ($1.9 trillion per year)
  3. Joe Biden
    $3.7 trillion over 2 years, 3 months
    ($1.6 trillion per year)
  4. George W. Bush
    $4.9 trillion over 8 years
    ($0.6 trillion per year)

Factors that contributed to increased debt include government spending, including military and wartime spending, stimulus programs like those offered in the 2008 recession and COVID-19 pandemic and tax cuts that reduce the government’s income.