The US Treasury Department has burned through cash at a historic rate in the last month – an alarming signal that may require lawmakers to intervene to prevent the country from defaulting on the national debt.
The agency, now led by former hedge fund manager Scott Bessent, has burned through $286 billion in the month of March alone.
This is the largest single-month drawdown in American history, and it’s only rivaled by the Treasury spending $279 billion in August 2021 during the height of the pandemic.
The Treasury General Account (TGA), essentially the US government’s checking account, now has just $280 billion left for disbursing funds for Social Security checks, government salaries and other crucial programs millions of Americans rely on.
The last time the Treasury’s coffers dwindled this low was in 2023 when the US breached the debt ceiling, a legal limit set by Congress on how much the government can borrow to pay its bills.
By May of that year, the TGA, which is managed by the Federal Reserve, was down to just $37 billion.
This prompted then-President Joe Biden and then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to strike a deal suspending the debt limit.
The government proceeded to issue new debt in the form of bonds and by October 2023, the TGA soared back up to more than $800 billion. It stayed at around that amount give or take $100 billion for the rest of Biden’s term.
On January 21, 2025, the day after Trump was sworn in, the Treasury was still flush with $704 billion. The account balance has fallen by an unprecedented 60 percent in just three months.
Hellbound and Down 