In 2017, the interest on the national debt was $456 billion. This amounts to 12% of annual federal revenues, or 4.0 times federal spending on education and 6.5 times federal spending on food stamps. As a portion of federal revenues, interest on the national debt is low compared to previous decades, because the average interest rate is much lower than historical levels. However, the Congressional Budget Office "anticipates that those payments will increase considerably as interest rates return to more typical levels."