U.S. Fiscal Policy

What each president added to the national debt

The real, inflation-adjusted increase in federal debt during each presidential term, measured in constant 2026 dollars. Spending driven by the 2008 financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic is broken out separately, so the “baseline” bars show the underlying, non-emergency trend.

Trump II is split into what has been added so far and a projected remainder for the rest of the term through fiscal 2028, based on Congressional Budget Office figures.