NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 106

Note 13. Federal Debt and Interest Payable

Federal Debt and Interest Payable as of September 30, 2021, and 2020 (held by the public)

Average Interest

Net Rate

(In billions of dollars) 2020 Change 2021 2021 2020

Treasury securities:

Marketable securities:

Treasury bills ................................................................ 5,028.1 (1,315.2) ................................ 3,712.9 ................................ 0.1% 0.2%............................

Treasury notes ................................................................ 10,655.9 1,914.6 ................................ 12,570.5................................ 1.4% 1.9%.........................

Treasury bonds ................................................................ 2,668.1 672.7 ................................ 3,340.8................................ 3.1% 3.5% ........................

Treasury inflation-protected 

securities (TIPS) ................................................................ 1,522.4 129.6................................ 1,652.0 ................................ 0.5% 0.7% .......................

Treasury floating rate notes 

(FRN) ................................................................ 478.3................................ 101.0 ................................ 579.3 0.4% ................................ 0.3% .......

Total marketable Treasury 

securities ................................................................ 20,352.8 ................................ 1,502.7 21,855.5 ...................................................................

Nonmarketable securities................................666.0 ................................ (238.6) ................................ 427.4 1.3%................................ 1.1% .............

Net unamortized 

premiums/(discounts) ................................................................ (26.7) (0.1) ................................ (26.8) ................................................

Total Treasury securities, net 

(public) ................................................................ 20,992.1................................ 1,264.0 ................................ 22,256.1 .........................................

Agency securities:

Tennessee Valley Authority................................ 19.8................................ (0.5) ................................ 19.3 ..........................................

All other agencies ................................................................ 0.1 (0.1) ................................-........................................................

Total agency securities, net of 

unamortized premiums and 

discounts ................................................................ 19.9................................ (0.6) ................................ 19.3 ......................................

Accrued interest payable ................................................................ 70.9 (1.5) ................................ 69.4 ................................................

Total federal debt and interest 

payable ................................................................ 21,082.9................................ 1,261.9 ................................ 22,344.8 ........................................

Types of marketable securities:

Bills–Short-term obligations issued with a term of 1 year or less.

Notes–Medium-term obligations issued with a term of 2-10 years. 

Bonds–Long-term obligations of more than 10 years.

TIPS–Term of 5 years or more.

FRN–Term of 2 years.

Federal debt held by the public consists of securities outside the government by individuals, corporations, state or local

governments, FRBs, foreign governments, and other non-federal entities. The above table details government borrowing

primarily to finance operations and shows marketable and nonmarketable securities at face value less net unamortized

premiums and discounts including accrued interest.

Securities that represent federal debt held by the public are issued primarily by Treasury and include:

• Interest-bearing marketable securities (bills, notes, bonds, inflation-protected, and FRN).
107 NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

• Interest-bearing nonmarketable securities (Government Account Series held by fiduciary and certain deposit funds,

foreign series, state and local government series, domestic series, and savings bonds).

• Non-interest-bearing marketable and nonmarketable securities (matured and other).

In FY 2020, Treasury expanded its domestic series to include a new special nonmarketable Treasury security, known as

a SPV security. Treasury issued these securities to SPVs, which were established by the Federal Reserve to implement its

emergency lending facilities under Section 13(3) of the Federal Reserve Act to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. The

total amount of SPV redemptions in FY 2021 was $74.0 billion and there were no issuances. An SPV security is a demand

deposit certificate of indebtedness for which interest accrues daily and is paid at redemption. As of September 30, 2021 and

2020, the total amount of SPV securities outstanding were $22.0 and $96.0 billion, respectively.

Gross federal debt, with some adjustments, is the sum of debt held by the public and intra-governmental debt holdings

(discussed on the next page) and is subject to a statutory ceiling (i.e., the debt limit). Prior to 1917, Congress approved each

debt issuance. In 1917, to facilitate planning in World War I, Congress and the President first enacted a statutory dollar

ceiling for federal borrowing. With the Public Debt Act of 1941 (P.L. 77-7), Congress and the President set an overall limit of

$65.0 billion on Treasury debt obligations that could be outstanding at any one time; since then, Congress and the President

have enacted a number of debt limit increases.

On August 2, 2019, the BBA of 2019 (P.L. 116-37) was enacted suspending the statutory debt limit through July 31,

2021. A delay in raising the statutory debt limit occurred from August 1, 2021 through December 15, 2021. During the period

of August 2, 2021 through December 15, 2021, Treasury departed from their normal debt management operations and

undertook extraordinary measures to avoid exceeding the statutory debt limit. On October 14, 2021, P.L. 117-50 was enacted

which raised the statutory debt limit by $480.0 billion, from $28,401.5 billion to $28,881.5 billion. Even with this increase,

extraordinary measures continued in order for Treasury to manage below the debt limit. On December 16, 2021, P.L. 117-73

was enacted, raising the debt limit by $2.5 trillion from $28,881.5 billion to $31,381.5 billion. On this date, Treasury

discontinued its use of extraordinary measures and resumed normal debt management operations.

As of September 30, 2021, and 2020, debt subject to the statutory debt limit was $28,401.4 billion and $26,920.4

billion, respectively. The debt subject to the limit includes Treasury securities held by the public and government guaranteed

debt of federal entities (shown in the table above) and intra-governmental debt holdings (shown in the following table). As

noted above, a delay in raising the statutory debt limit existed as of September 30, 2021. Many extraordinary measures taken

by Treasury during the period of August 2, 2021, through September 30, 2021, resulted in federal debt securities not being

issued to certain federal government accounts. See Note 19—Other Liabilities, Note 24—Fiduciary Activities and Note 31—

Subsequent Events for additional information.
NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 108

Intra-governmental Debt Holdings: Federal Debt Securities

Held as Investments by Government Accounts as of September 30, 2021, and 2020

Net

(In billions of dollars) 2020 Change 2021

Social Security Administration, Federal Old-Age and Survivors 

Insurance Trust Fund................................................................................................ 2,811.2 (55.4) ................................ 2,755.8 ...................

Department of Defense, Military Retirement Fund................................ 916.3................................ 115.7 ................................ 1,032.0 ..........

Office of Personnel Management, Civil Service Retirement 

and Disability Fund................................................................................................ 962.1 ................................ (36.3) 925.8 ......................

Department of Defense, Medicare-Eligible Retiree Health 

Care Fund ................................................................................................ 268.9 ................................ 20.8 289.7 ..................................

Department of Health and Human Services, Federal 

Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Fund ................................................................ 87.5 83.2................................ 170.7 ..............

Department of Health and Human Services, Federal Hospital 

Insurance Trust Fund................................................................................................ 133.7 ................................ 2.5 136.2 ...................

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Deposit Insurance 

Fund................................................................................................ 108.9 ................................ 6.6 ................................ 115.5 ...........

Social Security Administration, Federal Disability Insurance 

Trust Fund ................................................................................................ 97.2 ................................ 0.8 98.0 .................................

Department of Housing and Urban Development, FHA, Mutual 

Mortgage Insurance Capital Reserve Account ................................................................ 67.9 26.2................................ 94.1 ..............

Department of Energy, Nuclear Waste Disposal Fund................................ 54.7 ................................ 0.6 ................................ 55.3 ....

Department of Labor, Unemployment Trust Fund ................................ 50.5................................ 2.6 ................................ 53.1 .........

Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation ................................................................ 45.6 ................................ 4.7 50.3 .........................

Office of Personnel Management, Employees Life Insurance 

Fund ................................................................................................ 49.1................................ 1.1 ................................ 50.2 ..........

Office of Personnel Management, Postal Service Retiree 

Health Benefits Fund ................................................................................................ 41.9 (3.1) ................................ 38.8 ...................

Office of Personnel Management, Employees Health Benefits 

Fund................................................................................................28.3 ................................ (0.3) ................................ 28.0 ...........

U.S. Postal Service, Postal Service Fund................................................................ 15.0 ................................ 9.7 24.7 ......................

Department of the Treasury, ESF ................................................................ 11.2 ................................ 11.6 22.8 ................................

Department of State, Foreign Service Retirement and 

Disability Fund ................................................................................................ 20.0 ................................ 0.3 20.3...........................

National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund................................................................ 16.6 1.9................................ 18.5 .................

Department of Transportation, Airport and Airway Trust Fund................................ 7.9 ................................ 8.0 15.9 .........................

Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation Deposit Fund ................................ 12.9 ................................ 2.1 ................................ 15.0 .....

Department of Housing and Urban Development, Guarantees 

of Mortgage-Backed Securities Capital Reserve Account ................................ 8.4 ................................ 5.8 14.2...............................

Department of Commerce, Public Safety Trust Fund, NTIA ................................ 7.7 ................................ 4.5 12.2............................

Department of Transportation, Highway Trust Fund ................................ 12.1................................ (0.1) ................................ 12.0 .......

All other programs and funds ................................................................ 90.9................................ 5.8 ................................ 96.7 .......

Subtotal ................................................................................................ 5,926.5 ................................ 219.3 6,145.8 ...................................

Total net unamortized premiums/(discounts) for intragovernmental ................................................................................................ 72.3 ................................ 13.9 86.2..............................

Total intra-governmental debt holdings, net................................ 5,998.8 ................................ 233.2................................ 6,232.0 ..............
109 NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Intra-governmental debt holdings represent the portion of the gross federal debt held as investments by government

entities such as trust funds, revolving funds, and special funds. As noted above, the delay in raising the debt limit still existed

as of September 30, 2021. As such, suspension of certain investments of the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund

contributed to the decrease in the intra-governmental debt holdings balance for the fund.

Government entities that held investments in Treasury securities include trust funds that have funds from dedicated

collections. For additional information on funds from dedicated collections, see Note 23─Funds from Dedicated Collections.

These intra-governmental debt holdings are eliminated in the consolidation of these financial statements.