U.S. debt exceeds $40 trillion for first time amid warnings of fiscal crisis

BUSINESS / Economy

U.S. debt exceeds $40 trillion for first time amid warnings of fiscal crisis

The U.S. Department of the Treasury Building in Washington on July 11. Days after a $25-billion auction of 30-year Treasury bonds went off at the highest yield since 2021, yields on so-called long bonds on Tuesday hit their highest levels in nearly two decades. | REUTERS

REUTERS

Aug 20, 2026

WASHINGTON – Total U.S. debt has topped $40 trillion for the first time, the U.S. Treasury Department said Wednesday, drawing fresh warnings that a fiscal crisis is brewing as ballooning costs for social safety-net programs and interest payments far outstrip revenues held back by tax cuts.

The Treasury’s latest daily cash and debt balances statement showed total public debt outstanding at $40.047 trillion on Tuesday, a total that includes Treasury securities held by the public of $32.266 trillion and intragovernmental debt holdings of $7.782 trillion.

The federal government’s IOU has now more than doubled in less than a decade, from $19.95 trillion when U.S. President Donald Trump was sworn in for the first time in January 2017.?