The first four months of fiscal year 2026 got off to an expensive start for the U.S., according to the latest estimates from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) .<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The CBO released a report yesterday<\/a> detailing that, for the first third of FY26 (which began in October), the U.S. government operated at a deficit, and so borrowed $696 billion. That included $94 billion in January alone, and works out to an average of $43.5 billion for each of the 16 weeks of the four months since.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While America\u2019s government spending outweighs its revenue generation<\/a>, its finances are also negatively compounded by the interest payments<\/a> needed to maintain its debt. Total national debt now sits at more than $38.5 trillion. U.S. GDP is about $31 trillion, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Read it all<\/a>.<\/p> "America borrowed $43.5 billion a week in the first four months of the fiscal year, with debt interest on track to be over $1 trillion for 2026" https:\/\/t.co\/2PBD5escW8<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/rTJXR6L30A<\/a><\/p>— Scott Lincicome (@scottlincicome) February 10, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote>