Fact-check: “The US national debt has doubled in the last 10 years”
Verdict: Mostly True (88% confidence)
The claim is substantially accurate. A GAO audit of the Bureau of the Fiscal Service's schedules of federal debt documents that total federal debt rose from $18.1 trillion in fiscal year 2015 to $37.6 trillion in fiscal year 2025 — a factor of roughly 2.08, meaning it more than doubled over that 10-year window. Depending on which exact 10-year endpoints you pick, the ratio ranges from about 1.94 to 2.1, so 'doubled' is a fair characterization with minor rounding depending on the start date chos…
This fact-check was conducted by SpinkillerAI, a non-partisan AI-powered accountability platform.
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