The Daily Treasury Statement for Friday showed that the total public debt outstanding rose to US$34.001 trillion from US$33.911 on Thursday.

The debt that counts toward the federal debt ceiling rose to US$33.89 trillion on Friday from US$33.794 trillion on Thursday. This “debt subject to limit” category excludes the unamortised discount on Treasury bills and zero coupon bonds, debt issued by the Federal Financing Bank and guaranteed debt of certain other agencies.

The milestone comes shortly after the federal debt topped US$33 trillion in September amid rising federal deficits fueled by falling tax revenues and rising federal expenditures.

Congress returns to Washington next week to tackle Jan 19 and Feb 2 deadlines for settling government spending through September, amid Republican demands to reduce fiscal 2024 discretionary spending below caps agreed in June. Lawmakers also hope to pass emergency aid for Ukraine and Israel, possibly with unrelated US border security provisions attached.

Failure to approve the one-dozen fiscal 2024 spending bills would plunge Washington agencies into shutdown mode. But reaching compromise could become more difficult with November presidential and congressional elections coming quickly into focus.

Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a fiscal watchdog group, called the US$34 trillion federal debt figure “a truly depressing achievement,” attributing it to political leaders’ unwillingness to make difficult fiscal choices.

“We remain hopeful that policymakers will take further measures to reduce our borrowing either by raising taxes, reducing spending, or creating a fiscal commission – or ideally by doing all of the above,” MacGuineas said in a statement.