Overview
- The Congressional Budget Office's June monthly review, released Thursday, shows the FY2026 deficit totaled $1.373 trillion in the first nine months of the year.
- Net interest on the public debt reached $857 billion year-to-date, the largest single contributor to the increase in spending and up $98 billion, or 13%, from a year ago due to a bigger debt load and higher long-term rates.
- Mandatory programs drove much of the rise in spending with Social Security up $62 billion, Medicare up $58 billion, and Medicaid up $49 billion as the population ages and enrollment and per-person costs climb.
- Treasury borrowing has averaged about $155 billion per month and the national debt stands near $39.4 trillion, leading the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget to warn full-year borrowing could top $2 trillion without policy changes.
- Revenue shifts have been volatile this year: stronger individual and payroll tax receipts were partly offset by roughly $70 billion in recent tariff refunds after a Supreme Court ruling, showing how legal and policy decisions can quickly alter the fiscal picture.