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The monthly borrowing for 2026 now sits at roughly $155 billion, or $39 billion per week. And, like any borrower, that debt carries an interest cost. The latest monthly budget review from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) confirms that net interest on public debt for the fiscal year has hit $857 billion: roughly $23.8 billion a week.
This is approximately $100 billion more (13%) than the interest paid out in the first nine months of 2025, the CBO adds, owing to a higher total debt burden than last year and higher long-term interest rates.
In fact, interest payments on the debt are now $20 billion larger than the outlays for the Departments of Defense, Commerce, Homeland Security, Education, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Small Business Administration, and the U.S. Coronavirus Refundable Credits scheme—combined.
Also contributing to the demand on government purse springs is the increasing demand for social security, Medicare and Medicaid.
Spending for Social Security benefits rose by $62 billion (or 5%) because of increases in average benefits and in the number of beneficiaries, CBO noted. In comparison, Medicare outlays increased by $58 billion (8%) due to higher enrollment and higher payment rates for services. Rising costs per enrollee meant Medicaid spending increased by $49 billion (10%).
This is a trend that isn’t going anywhere: The U.S. population is aging. According to the Census Bureau, Americans’ median age—the age at which half of the population is younger, and half is older — continues to rise, climbing from 39.2 in 2024 to 39.4 in 2025.
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