A short history of the National Debt

All numbers in billions

8/5/1997: raised $450 from $5500 to $5950
6/28/2002: raised $450 from $5950 to $6400
5/27/2003: raised $984 from $6400 to $7384
11/19/2004: raised $800 from $7384 to $8184
3/20/2006: raised $781 from $8184 to $8965
10/1/2007: raised $850 from $8965 to $9815
6/30/2008: raised $800 from $9815 to $10,615
10/1/2008: raised $700 from $10,615 to $11,315
2/17/2009: raised $789 from $11,315 to $12,104
12/28/2009: raised $290 from $12,104 to $12,394
2/12/2010: raised $1900 from $12,394 to $14,294
8/2/2011: raised $400 from $14,294 to $14,694
9/8/2011: raised $500 from $14,694 to $15,194
1/30/2012: raised $1200 from $15,194 to $16,394
2/4/2013: (suspended until 5/19/2013) effectively raised $306 from $16,394 to $16,700
10/17/2013: (suspended until 2/7/2014) effectively raised $526 from $16,700 to $17,226
2/12/2014: (suspended until 3/16/2015) effectively raised about $600 from $17,226 to about $17,826

The debt limit has been raised every year since 2006.

See also: Debt Ceiling History

Update:  I'm not sure where I got some of these numbers. The total debt was $17,258.8 on Feb. 7 and stayed there until Feb. 18, after the debt limit was raised again.  There is about $47 bn not subject to the limit.  So the actual limit on Feb 7 was about $17,211.  Oh well, pretty close.