U.S. debt tops $40 trillion

NPR | By Scott Horsley,

Sacha Pfeiffer

Published August 20, 2026 at 4:45 AM EDT

The federal debt is growing even faster than expected. Just paying interest on the $40 trillion balance is now the government's second-largest expense, outpacing everything but Social Security.

Economy

Scott Horsley

Scott Horsley is NPR's Chief Economics Correspondent.

Sacha Pfeiffer

Correspondent, Investigations

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U.S. debt tops $40 trillion

Support quality journalism, like the story above, with your gift right now.

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