By Brett Rowland

( The Center Square ) – The U.S. national debt reached $38 trillion amid a partial federal government that costs taxpayers $400 million daily to pay furloughed federal workers to stay home.

The U.S. Treasury Department’s official counter topped $38 trillion for the first time on Wednesday. The milestone comes about two months after reaching $37 trillion in mid-August.

Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, said the situation was grim.

“While nominal gross federal debt may not be the most meaningful measure of our fiscal health, the rest of our fiscal situation is just as bleak,” she said. “Debt held by the public – economists’ preferred measure of debt – is already as large as our entire economy, beyond any point outside o

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