NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 104 

Note 12. Federal Debt and Interest Payable 

Federal Debt and Interest Payable as of September 30, 2022, and 2021 (held by the public) 

Average Interest 

Net Rate 

(In billions of dollars) 2021 Change 2022 2022 2021 

Treasury securities: 

Marketable securities: 

Treasury bills ...................................... 3,712.9 (69.2) 3,643.7 2.5% 0.1% 

Treasury notes .................................... 12,570.5 1,126.0 13,696.5 1.6% 1.4% 

Treasury bonds ................................... 3,340.8 526.9 3,867.7 3.0% 3.1% 

Treasury inflation-protected securities 

(TIPS) ................................................ 1,652.0 187.8 1,839.8 0.5% 0.5% 

Treasury floating rate notes (FRN) ....... 579.3 46.6 625.9 3.3% 0.4% 

Total marketable Treasury securities .. 21,855.5 1,818.1 23,673.6 

Nonmarketable securities ....................... 427.4 198.2 625.6 2.7% 1.3% 

 Net unamortized premiums/(discounts) . (26.8) (44.9) (71.7) 

Total Treasury securities, net (public) . 22,256.1 1,971.4 24,227.5 

Agency securities: 

Tennessee Valley Authority .................... 19.3 (0.3) 19.0 

Total agency securities, net of 

unamortized premiums and discounts... 19.3 (0.3) 19.0 

Accrued interest payable .......................... 69.4 12.1 81.5 

Total federal debt and interest payable ...... 22,344.8 1,983.2 24,328.0 

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: 

x Interest-bearing marketable securities (bills, notes, bonds, inflation-protected, and FRN). 

x 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). 

x Non-interest-bearing marketable and nonmarketable securities (matured and other). 
105 NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 

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. An SPV 

security is a demand deposit certificate of indebtedness for which interest accrues daily and is paid at redemption. The total 

amount of SPV redemptions in FY 2022 was $7.0 billion, including $0.1 billion in capitalized interest, and there were no 

issuances. As of September 30, 2022, and 2021, the total amount of SPV securities outstanding were $15.4 and $22.3 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. 

A delay in raising the debt limit that began in FY 2021 continued into FY 2022. During the period August 2, 2021, 

through December 15, 2021, Treasury departed from its normal debt management operations and undertook extraordinary 

measures to avoid exceeding the 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 for Treasury to manage below the debt limit. Many of the extraordinary actions taken by Treasury resulted in 

federal debt securities not being issued to certain federal government accounts. As a result of Treasury securities not being 

issued to the federal employees’ TSP’s G Fund as of September 30, 2021, Treasury reported other liabilities of $157.0 billion 

that would have been reported as Federal Debt and Interest Payable had there not been a delay in raising the statutory debt 

limit as of September 30, 2021, and had the Treasury securities been issued. On December 16, 2021, P.L. 117-73 was 

enacted, increasing the debt limit by $2,500.0 billion from $28,881.5 billion to $31,381.5 billion. Treasury subsequently 

restored the uninvested principal and related interest to the TSP’s G Fund, resulting in an increase in federal debt securities

held by the public from FY 2021 to FY 2022. See Note 18—Other Liabilities and Note 23—Fiduciary Activities for 

additional information. 

From FY 2021 to FY 2022, interest on Treasury securities held by the public increased from $392.0 billion to $496.5 

billion. This $104.5 billion increase primarily resulted from an increase in inflation adjustments, an increase in the average 

interest rate (see table above), and an increase in the outstanding debt held by the public. 

As of September 30, 2022, and 2021, debt subject to the statutory debt limit was $30,869.3 billion and $28,401.4 

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). On 

January 19, 2023, Treasury began taking extraordinary measures. See Note 30—Subsequent Events. 

 
 NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 106 

Intra-governmental Debt Holdings: Federal Debt Securities 

Held as Investments by Government Accounts as of September 30, 2022, and 2021 

Net 

(In billions of dollars) 2021 Change 2022 

Social Security Administration, Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance 

Trust Fund ........................................................................................... 2,755.8 (32.2) 2,723.6 

Department of Defense, Military Retirement Fund ................................... 1,032.0 162.7 1,194.7 

Office of Personnel Management, Civil Service Retirement and Disability 

Fund .................................................................................................... 925.8 85.9 1,011.7 

Department of Defense, Medicare-Eligible Retiree Health Care Fund ....... 289.7 32.3 322.0 

Department of Health and Human Services, Federal Hospital Insurance 

Trust Fund ........................................................................................... 136.2 41.2 177.4 

Department of Health and Human Services, Federal Supplementary 

Medical Insurance Trust Fund ............................................................... 170.7 (2.7) 168.0 

Department of Transportation, Highway Trust Fund ................................ 12.0 115.5 127.5 

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Deposit Insurance Fund ............. 115.5 10.0 125.5 

Department of Housing and Urban Development, FHA, Mutual Mortgage 

Insurance Capital Reserve Account ....................................................... 94.1 25.8 119.9 

Social Security Administration, Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund ... 98.0 16.7 114.7 

Department of Labor, Unemployment Trust Fund.................................... 53.1 20.5 73.6 

Department of Energy, Nuclear Waste Disposal Fund ............................. 55.3 1.3 56.6 

Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation ................................................... 50.3 5.3 55.6 

Office of Personnel Management, Employees Life Insurance Fund .......... 50.2 0.8 51.0 

Office of Personnel Management, Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits 

Fund .................................................................................................... 38.8 (3.2) 35.6 

Office of Personnel Management, Employees Health Benefits Fund ........ 28.0 (0.7) 27.3 

U.S. Postal Service, Postal Service Fund ............................................... 24.7 (3.8) 20.9 

Department of State, Foreign Service Retirement and Disability Fund ...... 20.3 0.4 20.7 

National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund .......................................... 18.5 2.2 20.7 

Department of the Treasury, ESF .......................................................... 22.8 (4.4) 18.4 

Department of Housing and Urban Development, Guarantees of 

Mortgage-Backed Securities Capital Reserve Account ............................ 14.2 4.2 18.4 

Department of the Interior, Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund .............. 2.6 11.8 14.4 

Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation Deposit Fund .............................. 15.0 (1.3) 13.7 

Department of Transportation, Airport and Airway Trust Fund .................. 15.9 (5.1) 10.8 

Department of Commerce, Public Safety Trust Fund, NTIA ..................... 12.2 (12.2) - 

All other programs and funds ................................................................. 94.1 13.0 107.1 

 Subtotal ............................................................................................. 6,145.8 484.0 6,629.8 

Total net unamortized premiums/(discounts) for intra-governmental ......... 86.2 2.5 88.7 

 Total intra-governmental debt holdings, net ....................................... 6,232.0 486.5 6,718.5 

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. On December 16, 2021, P.L. 117-73 was enacted, increasing the debt limit by $2,500.0 billion 

from $28,881.5 billion to $31,381.5 billion. Treasury subsequently restored uninvested principal and related interest, 

resulting in an increase to the CSRDF from 2021 to 2022. 

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

collections. For additional information on funds froPGHGLFDWHGFROOHFWLRQVVHH1RWHņ)XQGVIURP'HGLFDWHG&ROOHFWLRQV

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