The only constraint Congress faces in spending is inflation, which no one in government or finance appears to understand. This is the result of a multi-generational deception aimed at making the voting populace economically illiterate, and it has been a smashing success for the oligarchs that have benefited from the ignorance and confusion.
Who, exactly, would we make payments to if we chose to pay off this massive debt you are so concerned with? The tax collector? Ourselves? Your grasp of the nature of money is lacking, but sadly common. Our money is a product of debt only because of how dual entry accounting and spreadsheets work. It is not, and cannot be, a real debt that the people are responsible for.
It is our "money supply", almost to a penny of accuracy in accounting. It is only considered "debt" to Treasury because it is needed as an offset to balance private sector monetary assets across sectoral lines. It represents the potential "tax credits" that can be honored by our federal government which neither has nor doesn't have "money" as it doesn't need it.
While this debt is primarily represented by Treasury bonds, the sales of those bonds are not required to "fund" spending by our federal government. In fact, if the government doesn't spend first there is no new money available to purchase the bonds issued. This is why bond issues are mostly restricted to spending "in deficit" of taxation. One cannot collect or borrow what doesn't yet exist.
The "real" debt can only be calculated in the real resources and labor our society will need in the future, not the money (only a measuring instrument against those resources and labor). If we don't make the right investments in our future productivity beyond simple GDP growth those resources will not be available, regardless of how much money we might want to spend in the future.
This is going to require a new level of economic management from that we have shown favor in our politicians and business leaders. It is also going to require that we have clearly defined goals before we can decide who is best suited to achieve them. To date, neither major political ideology has managed to take us past the concept of "jobs" and unrestricted economic growth for its own sake.
Who TF even wants a job(??) and why is it the holy grail of our elected representatives?? Bring on the automation/robots and allow "people" to use their time and efforts to construct a livable and just economy and ecostructure. You won't get there by being obsessed with accounting of a mostly meaningless number on a spreadsheet that doesn't even represent what you think it does.
