The United States Treasury Department said on Wednesday that total US government debt had surpassed $40 trillion, while announcing plans to at least double the maximum size of its liquidity-support buyback operations for longer-dated Treasury securities from $2 billion to at least $4 billion per operation.

The federal debt reached $40 trillion as the government adds red ink at a rapid rate. That's leading nervous investors to demand higher interest rates —pushing up borrowing costs…

Federal debt has mounted amid tax cuts and trillions in pandemic spending, adding to the nation's interest payments.

The national debt is now over $40 trillion, a historic high that economists warn is bad news for the United States.