Federal Agencies by Spending

A handful of cabinet departments, Defense, Health and Human Services, Veterans Affairs, Treasury, and Education, account for the overwhelming majority of federal obligations in any given fiscal year. The long tail of smaller independent agencies and commissions still matters: regulatory oversight, scientific research, and inter-agency coordination depend on agencies whose dollar footprint is small but whose statutory role is large.

"Obligated" is the contractual commitment to spend; "budget authority" is the legal ceiling Congress appropriated. The two figures diverge whenever an agency carries unspent appropriations forward, declines to obligate full authority, or operates under a continuing resolution. We show both columns so the difference is visible at a glance, agencies whose obligations track close to budget authority are operating near full execution; those running well below indicate appropriated funds that have not yet been put to work.

Source figures are pulled from USASpending.gov, the U.S. Treasury's public ledger, with budget-authority cross-checks against OMB Program and Financial Schedules. Click any agency for its sub-bureau breakdown, contract and grant ratios, and recent spending trends.