CBO Estimates $1.8 Trillion Deficit for First 10 Months of FY 2026

The United States borrowed $1.8 trillion in the first ten months of Fiscal Year (FY) 2026, including $431 billion in July, according to the latest Monthly Budget Review from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).  

The following is a statement from Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget:  

We’ve borrowed an astounding $1.8 trillion this fiscal year, with $431 billion in the month of July alone, and equating to nearly $6 billion per day. We’re on track to surpass $2 trillion in borrowing this fiscal year despite not being in a recession. That is not normal.

Incredibly, such an enormous level of borrowing barely scratches the surface of our fiscal deterioration. We are about to hit the sobering milestone of $40 trillion in gross national debt, and things are only likely to get worse.  

If lawmakers want to correct our fiscal course, they should start by targeting a reasonable fiscal goal, like 3% of GDP deficits, and then create a bipartisan commission to figure out how we should get there. We can no longer afford to put off the difficult decisions – the time to act is now.  

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For more information, please contact Matt Klucher, Assistant Director for Media Relations, at klucher@crfb.org.