Ah, it’s only money. You borrow against your future every month don’t you?

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

Only three months left in FY 2026, and the Treasury Department just confirmed the deficit has now surpassed the FY 2025 deficit over the same period. At $1.4 trillion in the first nine months of FY 2026 – including $120 billion in the month of June alone – we are on track to borrow $2 trillion or more this fiscal year.

But these alarming deficit numbers represent just one of the many fiscal challenges facing the United States. Not only are we borrowing at an unsustainable rate, but lawmakers have yet to fund any part of the government for the upcoming fiscal year with very little time left. On top of that, our major trust funds are facing insolvency in the next seven years, meaning there is little time left to avoid across-the-board cuts to benefits. Lawmakers should work together to prevent insolvency of our trust funds, put in place much-needed deficit reduction, and stop making the problem worse with new borrowing.

Rather than continuing the same unsustainable path, adopting a realistic fiscal target like bringing the deficit down to 3% of GDP or creating a bipartisan commission to address the nation’s laundry list of fiscal challenges would be a great start. Regardless, one thing is clear: something needs to change, and it is up to lawmakers to decide how.  

A single modern Patriot missile costs roughly $4 million.

The U.S. and its regional allies have fired a massive number of Patriot interceptors to defend against recent Iranian strikes:

• Massive Depletion: Recent intelligence and defense analyses, including reports from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), reveal that the U.S. military has expended nearly 50% of its entire global Patriot missile stockpile defending against Iranian aerial salvos.^{militarnyi.com}
• The Early Waves: During the intense opening phases of hostilities, U.S. forces fired over 800 Patriot anti-ballistic missiles in a span of just five days to intercept massive waves of Iranian drones and missiles aimed at regional hubs like Ali Al-Salem Air Base in Kuwait.
• The Expenditure Cost: Firing that many interceptors means the U.S. burned through roughly $2.4 billion to $3.2 billion worth of Patriot ammunition in less than a week.