US national debt surpasses $40T amid rising interest expenses

The US gross national debt crossed $40 trillion on August 18, hitting $40.047 trillion according to Treasury Department daily statements. What makes this milestone especially striking isn’t the number itself. It’s the speed. The debt blew past $39 trillion just five months ago in March 2026, and cleared $38 trillion in October 2025. The interest bill is becoming the main event In the first 10 months of fiscal year 2026, the federal government spent $931 billion on interest payments alone. That’s not building roads, funding schools, or paying soldiers. That’s just the cost of having borrowed money in the past. Annual net interest costs are now projected to exceed $1 trillion for the full fiscal year. That figure rivals what the US spends on national defense. It’s closing in on Medicare outlays. Interest on debt has quietly become one of the three largest line items in the entire federal budget, trailing only Social Security and Medicare. Higher Treasury yields mean every new bond the government issues carries a steeper interest rate. Those elevated yields don’t just hurt Washington’s balance sheet, they ripple outward, inflating borrowing costs for mortgages, car loans, and corporat...