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U.S. debt tops $40 trillion

NPR | By Scott Horsley,
Sacha Pfeiffer
Published August 20, 2026 at 3:45 AM CDT

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.

Copyright 2026 NPR
Scott Horsley
Scott Horsley is NPR's Chief Economics Correspondent.
See stories by Scott Horsley
Sacha Pfeiffer
Correspondent, Investigations
See stories by Sacha Pfeiffer