Under current policies, publicly held federal debt is on track to exceed 240 percent of GDP over the next three decades, adding roughly $200 trillion in new borrowing on top of the existing $31 trillion already outstanding, according to The Dispatch. The Congressional Budget Office, comparing a debt-stabilization path against current policy, found the higher-debt trajectory would cut total per-capita output by 27 percent; separately, IMF cross-national research links debt above 85 percent of GDP to slower growth, a threshold the U.S. already exceeds when state and local obligations are included.