Moody's strips the United States of its last AAA credit rating, ending a century of perfect scores

Moody's downgrades the U.S. sovereign credit rating from Aaa to Aa1, citing more than a decade of rising government debt and interest payments that are significantly higher than similarly rated nations. The downgrade comes as Congress debates the One Big Beautiful Bill. Moody's notes that successive administrations and Congresses have failed to reverse large annual fiscal deficits and growing interest costs — with net interest now absorbing 18% of federal tax revenues. With this action, the U.S. no longer holds a AAA rating from any of the three major credit agencies for the first time in over a century. S&P had downgraded in 2011, Fitch in 2023.