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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.

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