I have been out of public service for a long time, so I have no knowledge whether they are able to pay it off or have any intent on paying it off.
Gov is similar in many ways to a company, where a certain level of debt is actually good, to facilitate growth. But too much debt can drown it.
The $20B surplus they mentioned, is derived after interest payments on the debt. So as long as they can service the interest charges and still come up with a surplus, its good for us.
Its really a matter of opinion on whether we should use the surplus to pay off our debts. Email them if you feel strongly about it.
