The U.S. national debt as of Monday officially topped $35 trillion, a grim milestone for the U.S. government and the economy as the national debt continues to soar each year.

The national debt has nearly tripled in the last 20 years.

“If this sounds familiar, we only just reached $34 trillion at the very end of 2023,” Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, said in a statement after the milestone. “We passed $33 trillion three months before that and $32 trillion three months before that. The borrowing just keeps marching along, reckless and unyielding.”

MacGuineas said the U.S. annual deficit is on track to hit almost $2 trillion this year and nearly $3 trillion in ten years.

Before COVID-19, deficits remained under $1 trillion, but since the pandemic they have been well above the previously unbroken $1 trillion-dollar mark.#USNationalDebt