The United States now spends more servicing its debt than it does on national defense. That inversion, documented in the GAO’s March 2026 federal debt management report (GAO-26-107529), is not a rhetorical comparison. It is a statement about the structure of the federal budget and what it means for fiscal flexibility going forward. Net interest costs in fiscal year 2025 exceeded $970 billion, or 3.2 percent of GDP. That figure represents the highest share in the post-war record.