Individual Americans' Foolish But Noble Quest to Pay Down the National Debt 2.52K Adrian Chen 09/23/10 06:10PM Filed to: National Debt National Debt Treasury Department the economy Did you know you can send contributions to the Treasury Department to reduce the National Debt? Last year, citizens sent $3.1 million. The Times says it would take "millions of years" to retire the debt this way. Get to it!