SYSTEMS
01 · PUBLIC LEDGER
Receipts, outlays and deficit use one consistent set of official budget-function categories. FY2024 and FY2025 are completed fiscal years. FY2026 covers October 2025–August 2026 only; September is excluded. Partial-year totals are not full-year comparisons.
02 · INVESTIGATIONS
Congress enacts spending and eligibility laws. The president proposes a budget and signs or vetoes legislation. Agencies implement enacted law. Some spending follows standing eligibility rules, rather than a new annual allocation. Investigations distinguish payments to institutions from support received by people.
03 · CONNECTED PATHWAYS
People brings attributed public accounts into the evidence. Choices follows specific enacted decisions, alternatives and their documented or projected consequences. These are connected routes through the same investigations.