President Donald Trump's debt sales will surpass levels last seen when the U.S. was digging out of its worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. The difference is, this time the economy is booming.

A ballooning budget shortfall — fueled by tax cuts, spending hikes and an aging population — is driving the U.S. Treasury to raise its long-term debt issuance at its quarterly refunding auctions to $83 billion from $78 billion three months earlier, the department said Wednesday. The need for the Treasury to raise auction sizes for a fourth straight quarter is also partially driven by the Federal Reserve's decision not to replace some of its Treasury holdings when they mature as it winds down crisis-era stimulus measures.

The debt issuance at this quarterly refunding beats the previous record of $81 billion first set by former Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in 2009 when the U.S. was recovering from the Great Recession. This time borrowing is surging as the economy hums along at a 3.5% annual growth rate and unemployment is near a half-century low.