The cost of carrying America’s national debt has climbed to a new record and now eats up about a fifth of everything the federal government collects.
Interest on Treasury debt securities surged to $1.052 trillion in fiscal 2026, which ended on September 30th, says the US Treasury Department.
The number represents an 8% increase from $970 billion in fiscal 2025.
Meanwhile, total receipts grew just 3.2% over the same stretch to about $5.40 trillion, meaning interest costs equaled roughly 20% of federal revenue.
Social Security, the largest line item in the budget, cost $1.67 trillion, up about $86 billion, or 5.5%, from the year before. Second is Medicare expense at $1.073 trillion.
The interest bill also topped the $965 billion the government spent on national defense.
The government ran a $1.99 trillion deficit for the year on record outlays of about $7.40 trillion.
Warns the Peter G. Peterson Foundation,
“The nation’s rising debt, and relatively high interest rates, will continue to put upward pressure on federal borrowing costs — interest payments are projected to be the fastest growing portion of the federal budget in upcoming years. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that if current laws generally remain the same, net interest payments will total $16.2 trillion over the next decade, rising to an annual cost of $2.1 trillion in 2036.”
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The post US Interest Payments on Public Debt Hit Record $1,052,000,000,000 in Fiscal 2026, Swallowing About a Fifth of Federal Revenue appeared first on The Daily Hodl.