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1 1 (September 15, 2021)

handle is hein.crs/goveenl0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional SResearch Service informing the qeislative debate since 1914___________________ Federal Debt Levels on Presidential Inauguration Days September 15, 2021 This Insight presents data on federal debt on or near Inauguration Days since 1961 taken from U.S. Treasury statements. Table 1 presents current-dollar debt levels. Table 2 presents inflation-adjusted debt levels. Finally, Table 3 presents debt as a proportion of the U.S. economy. Levels for August 2, 2021, the first business day after the most recent reset of the debt limit, and September 14, 2021, the date of the most recent Daily Treasury Statement, are also included. Congress and the President share responsibility for fiscal policy. Changes in Administration take time to translate into fiscal outcomes. When a President takes office, budgetary decisions for that fiscal year are normally already decided, although executive orders and other actions may alter fiscal outcomes. While Presidents normally submit budgets in February, Presidents in their first year typically take more time to develop budget proposals. New programs also take time to implement. Both Congress and Presidents are also constrained by economic conditions and long-term trends in revenues and mandatory spending. The state of the economy, which affects spending and revenues, differs for each Inauguration Day and more generally, differs over the course of each Administration. Costs of responding to natural disasters, security challenges, and financial crises can also have major fiscal consequences. Experiences of many advanced countries suggest that public debt levels typically rise after financial crises. Table 1 presents several standard measures of federal debt levels on Inauguration Days or the closest end- of-month total (where Inauguration Day data are not available) since the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy in January 1961. The format of Treasury statements has changed over time as budget concepts and public financing operations have evolved, which complicates some comparisons. In particular, for earlier years, intragovernmental debt totals are proxied either by totals for Treasury's Government Account Series or totals for special issue Treasury securities held by various federal trust funds. The Treasury holds intergovernmental debt on behalf of other parts of the federal government, such as Social Security. Some amounts needed to reconcile Table 1 figures, such as debt not subject to limit, are not reported. Congressional Research Service https://crsreports. congress.gov IN11754 CRS INSIGHT Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress

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