PBS takes an in-depth look at several different visualizations of the US Federal Spending practices, ranging from the government-provided USASpending.gov to independent solutions from the New York Times and the famous “Death & Taxes” annual poster.
USASpending.gov was launched in 2007 by the Office of Management and Budget as mandated by the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006. The website’s mission is: “To provide the public with information about how their tax dollars are spent.” It lets viewers search and browse through the federal funds awarded for government projects. But there’s a catch. The data are what the government has legislated to give out for projects, not the actual cash disbursements that were eventually made for the work.
via Federal Spending, Visualized | The Rundown News Blog | PBS NewsHour | PBS.
