How Washington’s interest bill on the $40 trillion national debt exploded 14% in just 9 months

If you thought last year’s national debt numbers were chilling, you haven’t seen anything yet. In the second week of August, the CBO released its Monthly Budget Review giving year-to-date totals, calculated through July, for federal FY 2026, ending September 30. For the first 10 months of fiscal 2026, Washington’s carrying costs grew an astounding 14%, from $846 to $963 billion versus the same period in FY 2025, far and away the biggest jump of any expense line item. By contrast, Social Security rose 5%, and Medicare and Medicaid 8% each. In just 12 months, interest zoomed from equaling 64.9% of Social Security outlays to 70.1%. A year ago, the category had barely edged past Medicare to become the 2nd largest budget cost after Social Security. The huge increase in interest expense has two