US Borrowing Around $50 Billion Weekly Over the Last Five Months: Congressional Budget Office

The borrowing pace of the United States Department of the Treasury has been accelerating in recent months. As the fiscal year 2026 progresses, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reported that the federal deficit increased by $1 trillion within the first five months of the year.

According to the CBO’s updated monthly budget review published for February 2026, the US government is estimated to have borrowed $308 billion in February alone.

As the level of borrowing rises, the cost of servicing that debt has also increased. Between October 2025 and February 2026, the US Treasury spent $31 billion more on net interest payments on public debt compared with the same period last year.

As a result, the government has already paid $433 billion in interest costs on public debt during the first five months of the fiscal year. The total US national debt has now reached approximately $38.9 trillion.

According to the CBO, the increase in interest expenses is mainly due to the larger size of federal debt compared to the same period in fiscal year 2025 and higher long-term interest rates. However, the report notes that a decline in short-term interest rates has slightly helped reduce the overall increase in interest payments.

Although the scale of borrowing appears alarming, there has been some improvement in the federal deficit compared to last year. During the same period last year (October 2024 to February 2025), the government borrowed $142 billion more than it did this year.

Despite this slight improvement, budget experts remain concerned about the country’s long-term fiscal outlook. According to Maya MacGuineas from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, interest payments on US debt are expected to exceed $1 trillion this year and could surpass $2 trillion annually by 2036.

“This situation cannot continue indefinitely,” MacGuineas said, stressing that the country’s fiscal challenges will not resolve on their own. She urged policymakers to work together to reduce the federal deficit, suggesting that maintaining the deficit at around 3 percent of GDP could help place the national debt on a more sustainable path.

Economists often evaluate government debt not just by its total size but by examining the debt-to-GDP ratio, which measures a country’s debt relative to its economic output. If this balance becomes too high, the cost of interest payments could slow economic growth.

Although the target of maintaining the deficit at 3 percent of GDP differs from the debt-to-GDP ratio, it still helps connect government borrowing with the overall economic performance. In recent years, the US deficit-to-GDP ratio has remained between 5 and 6 percent.

Budget Balance and Revenue Growth

Looking at the first five months of fiscal year 2026, the slight improvement in the budget deficit was not caused by spending cuts. Instead, it resulted from higher government revenue used to offset increasing expenditures.

Revenue from tariffs and customs duties increased significantly, rising by $109 billion, which is more than four times the amount collected during the same period last year. Although a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States in February required the government to refund some tariffs collected in 2025 to American importers, recent tariff policies announced by the The White House have helped stabilize revenue levels.

Additionally, higher personal income taxes and payroll taxes contributed to government revenue, adding an extra $132 billion to federal income.

However, government spending also rose significantly. During the first five months of fiscal year 2026, federal spending reached $3.1 trillion, which is $64 billion higher than the same period last year.

The most significant increase came from three major federal programs: Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, whose combined spending rose by $104 billion.

Spending by the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs also increased, while the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Education reported reductions in their budgets.

Meanwhile, the United States Environmental Protection Agency reported a $20 billion decline in spending. The decrease occurred because the agency had spent $20 billion in November and December 2024 under a clean energy grant program established through the 2022 reconciliation law, which made this year’s spending appear lower by comparison.