Federal debt is on track to cross $40 trillion. Total public debt outstanding stood at $39.987 trillion on August 17, 2026, putting the milestone just around the corner. It took 206 years, from 1776 to 1982, for federal debt to reach its first $1 trillion. It took another 26 years to reach $10 trillion in 2008. The most recent $10 trillion, by comparison, has been added in just four years. Since the debt limit was increased on July 4, 2025, the federal government has borrowed another $3.4 trillion in roughly 406 days. At $40 trillion, the debt amounts to about $117,000 for every person in the United States, $299,000 per household, and $92 billion per congressional district.
Matthew Dickerson is recognized as a leading expert on fiscal policy issues, including the budget, appropriations, and economic opportunity. He brings more than a dozen years of Capitol Hill experience as well as management roles at leading policy institutions.
Dickerson was previously the Director of Budget Policy at the Economic Policy Innovation Center (EPIC).
In other previous roles, he served as Senior Policy Advisor on the House Budget Committee, where he helped lead development of the fiscal year 2024 Reverse the Curse budget resolution. He was Director of The Heritage Foundation’s Grover M. Hermann Center for the Federal Budget. Dickerson was Policy Director of the Republican Study Committee and served as Legislative Director for the late Congressman C.W. Bill Young, former Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.
Dickerson has written hundreds of publications, testified before Congress, and advised lawmakers and stakeholders on the federal budget process.
Dickerson is also founder and President of Baseline Policy, where he provides federal fiscal policy research and analysis.
Dickerson is a graduate of the College of William and Mary in Virginia and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Government and History.
