The United States crossed $40 trillion in total public debt on August 18, 2026.¹ The Treasury’s Debt to the Penny series² showed a whopping $40,047,425,768,420.22 that day, up from just under $40 trillion the day before. Out of that historic figure, $32.3 trillion  is held by the public and $7.8 trillion in intragovernmental holdings that the government owes its own trust funds.³

This mind-blowing and mind-numbing number is the cumulative result of spending that has consistently outrun the taxes Washington already collects. And it has all been driven by DC’s insatiable desire to spend, spend, spend. 

Debt Growth

And the pace keeps accelerating.⁴ Total debt hit $10 trillion in September 2008. It reached $20 trillion in September 2017, $30 trillion in January 2022, $35 trillion in July 2024, and $40 trillion on August 18, 2026. Roughly nine years separated the first two milestones. The next $10 trillion took about four and a half years. The jump from $30 trillion to $35 trillion took two and a half years. The last $5 trillion took just over two years. $2 trillion was added since last fall.⁵ That is the unfortunate operating tempo of the federal government today.

Interest Payments and the Deficit 

The interest on this debt is a rapidly growing concern. In fiscal year 2025,⁶ net interest totaled $970.4 billion, which was 13.8% of all outlays (money the federal government spent) and 18.5% of receipts (money the federal government collected). It exceeded national defense by more than $50 billion and came within $26 billion of Medicare. Through the first ten months of FY2026, net interest had already reached $931.4 billion, or 14.8% of outlays, and July alone cost $104.2 billion.⁷ 

The Congressional Budget Office’s February 2026 outlook projected net interest rising above $1 trillion in FY2026.⁸ CBO expects net interest to hit 3.3% of GDP this year, 4.6% by 2036, and 6.9% by 2056, eventually larger than both Social Security and Medicare. 

The annual deficit is still adding to the pile. FY2025 closed with a $1.775 trillion shortfall. Through July of FY2026 the deficit already stood at $1.799 trillion, larger than the entire previous year combined. CBO’s baseline puts the FY2026 deficit at $1.9 trillion and sees another $24 trillion in cumulative deficits from 2027 through 2036. 

The Burden on Taxpayers

Federal borrowing competes with private borrowers for capital and pushes interest rates higher. The CBO is explicit: growing federal debt “crowds out private investment.” That shows up as higher mortgage rates and tighter credit for the same Texas families already wrestling with local property tax bills. Texas taxpayers paid $176.8 billion in federal income tax after credits for tax year 2023.⁹ 

Maya MacGuineas of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget put it plainly: “The gross national debt has doubled in the last ten years; in less than twenty years, it has quadrupled.” And: “$40 trillion of debt doesn’t exist solely on the government’s ledgers; it is felt throughout the economy and finds its way to the pocketbooks of people one way or another.”¹⁰

Texans for Fiscal Responsibility makes a similar point every budget season in Austin: Every dollar the government spends is taken out of the productive economy and the pockets of hard-working taxpayers. And excessive government spending and debt are one of the main causes of the growing affordability crisis. 

Congress does not need another committee hearing to notice $40 trillion. It needs to stop adding to it. Treat excessive spending as the problem. Stop treating interest as an afterthought. Measure every authorization the way taxpayers already live: if you cannot fund it from what you already collect, do not spend it.

That $40 trillion is roughly $116,000 owed per person, and roughly $358,000 owed per individual taxpayer. 

That’s a bill Americans cannot afford.

---

Texans for Fiscal Responsibility relies on the support of private donors across the Lone Star State in order to promote fiscal responsibility and pro-taxpayer government in Texas. Please consider supporting our efforts! Thank you!

Get The Fiscal Note, our free weekly roll-up on all the current events that could impact your wallet. Subscribe today!

---

1. https://www.usdebtclock.org/ ↩︎
2. https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/datasets/debt-to-the-penny/debt-to-the-penny ↩︎
3. https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/datasets/debt-to-the-penny/debt-to-the-penny ↩︎
4. https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/datasets/historical-debt-outstanding/historical-debt-outstanding ↩︎
5. https://texastaxpayers.com/38-trillion-in-debt/ ↩︎
6. https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/static-data/published-reports/mts/MonthlyTreasuryStatement_202509.pdf ↩︎
7. https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/static-data/published-reports/mts/MonthlyTreasuryStatement_202607.pdf ↩︎
8. https://www.cbo.gov/publication/62105 ↩︎
9. https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/23in44tx.xlsx ↩︎
10. https://www.crfb.org/press-releases/gross-national-debt-reaches-40-trillion ↩︎