Fact-check: “The US national debt has doubled in the last 10 years”
Verdict: Mostly True (78% confidence)
The claim is substantially accurate but depends on which 10-year window you use. From roughly 2014 to 2024, total federal debt grew from about $17.8 trillion to around $34–35 trillion — an increase of roughly 90–100%, which is essentially a doubling. The Perplexity/CBO data puts the growth at 70–80% for the fiscal-year 2014–2024 window, which is just short of doubling, but U.S. Bank and Fortune (citing Treasury figures as of mid-to-late 2024) describe the debt as having 'roughly doubled' or 'do…
This fact-check was conducted by SpinkillerAI, a non-partisan AI-powered accountability platform.
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