1) GENERAL INFORMATION

1.1) Where is the money spent that is borrowed from the public and who decides where it goes?

The Bureau of Public Debt is responsible for the accounting for and reporting of the public debt in accordance with statutory direction. The Bureau does not have any public policy decision making authority.

1.2) What is the difference between the debt and the deficit?

The deficit is simply the difference between what the Government takes in from taxes and other revenues, called receipts, and the amount of money the Government spends, called outlays, in any year.

"You can think of the public debt as accumulated deficits. Deficits require the Treasury to borrow money to raise cash needed to keep the Government operating. We borrow the money by selling Treasury securities like T-bills, notes, bonds and savings bonds to the public, as well as selling nonmarketable securities to the various Government Trust Funds. These securities then become part of the Public Debt. The Public Debt is the financial liability for the Government's borrowing."

1.3) What's the difference between the Public Debt Outstanding and the Public Debt Subject to Limit?

The Public Debt Outstanding represents the total face amount or principal amount of marketable and nonmarketable securities currently outstanding.

The Public Debt Limit is the maximum amount of money the Government is allowed to borrow without receiving additional authority from Congress. Furthermore, the Public Debt Subject to Limit is the Public Debt Outstanding adjusted for Unamortized Discount on Treasury Bills and Zero-Coupon Treasury Bonds, Miscellaneous debt (very old debt), debt held by the Federal Financing Bank and Guaranteed debt.

1.4) Why does the Public Debt only change once a day? Why doesn't Treasury keep a rolling tab?

Our current accounting system produces the Public Debt Outstanding amount each morning around 11:30 A.M. EST. Our system relies on approximately 50 different reporting entities (e.g. Federal Reserve Banks) to report a variety of Treasury security information to us. Furthermore, the bulk of information that these reporting entities report to us is sent all at once at the end of the day. On the following business day our accounting system then absorbs all of this information reported to us and generates the Public Debt Outstanding for the previous day. Although we continually look for methods to improve our process, daily accounting is still the most effective and efficient manner to account for the Public Debt with today's technology.

1.5) How has the Public Debt grown over time?

A: The oldest data I have available shows that the National Debt in 1870 was $2.4 billion dollars. By 1910 it had shrunk to just $1.1 billion. Apparently, World War I was expensive; by 1920 the Debt had grown to over $24 billion.

Today, the National Debt is growing by almost a billion dollars a day; quite a change from the turn of the century!

The following graph shows how the National Debt has grown year by year since 1940:

This data was gathered from the U.S. Treasury Department's web site.

2) MAKE UP OF THE PUBLIC DEBT

2.1) Is there a report that lists the type of Treasury Securities that are issued to finance the Public Debt, their related maturity dates, and Amount Outstanding?

The Monthly Statement of the Public Debt lists the type of Treasury Securities issued to finance the Public Debt. Furthermore, their related maturity dates are listed along with the Amount Outstanding. This report is available in hard copy format for a nominal fee by the Superintendent of Documents, US Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402, (202)512-1800.

3) OWNERSHIP OF THE PUBLIC DEBT

3.1) Who owns the Public Debt?

The Treasury Bulletin categorizes ownership of US Government securities by types of investors, e.g., public, federal reserve banks, foreign investors, corporations, etc. You can obtain this report in hard copy format for a nominal fee from the Superintendent of Documents, US Government Printing Office, Washington DC 20402, (202) 512-1800. Also, the

4) FINANCING THE PUBLIC DEBT