The national debt has increased by more than $6 trillion since President Barack Obama took office, marking the largest increase under any president in history.
The Treasury Department's Bureau of Public Debt on Friday published its daily debt report, showing the government's total debt topped $16.687 trillion,
CBS News reports. On Jan. 20, 2009, when Obama took office, the debt was $10.626 trillion.
Less than two months into President Obama's second term, new numbers show the national debt increased by more than $6 trillion since he took office. The Office of Management and Budget projects the national debt will continue to increase by more than $800 billion this year alone.
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The new milestone was quietly announced on Friday, while Obama and congressional leaders were discussing $85 billion in automatic across-the-board spending cuts that started taking effect on Saturday.
Obama was seeking a package of targeted cuts and eliminating tax breaks to avoid the sequestration, which he says will harm the economy.
But the federal deficit has exceeded $1 trillion for four years in a row, with Obama continuing to blame Bush for polices that created the debt, “primarily as a result of two wars, two massive tax cuts, and an unprecedented financial crisis, (which) will have to be paid down," he said in a speech last year.
Under President George W. Bush, the debt climb by $4.9 trillion.
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