Treasury Confirms $2 Trillion Deficit for Fiscal Year 2026

The United States borrowed $2 trillion in Fiscal Year (FY) 2026, including $27 billion in the month of September, according to the latest Monthly Treasury Statement from the Treasury Department.

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

And there you have it: at an astonishing $2 trillion in borrowing, Fiscal Year 2026 had the largest deficit in our history outside of a war or recession.  

Today’s deficit figures cap off a remarkably dismal year for our fiscal health. In the same span over which we accumulated $2 trillion in borrowing, we also reached $40 trillion in gross national debt; watched debt held by the public grow to be as large as our entire economic output; spent more than $1 trillion on interest costs, more than our national defense; and all the while let another year lapse instead of addressing our trust funds as they march another year toward insolvency.

America’s fiscal health is failing, and we need to take action to address it. In the year ahead, our leaders should avoid adding any new borrowing – on top of what we are already projected to – and commit to finding twice as many savings for every new must-have cost incurred.  

We also need a real fiscal goal beyond the promises of balancing the budget or the outlandish idea of fully paying off the debt. Fiscal discipline requires finding something both achievable and aggressive, and bringing deficits down to 3% of GDP – half their current level – fits that bill and would stabilize debt as a share of the economy. Tough choices will be needed to get there, and we’re running out of time to make them.

###

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