Easy-to-Use Site Follows Nearly $4 Trillion in Government Spending from Washington, D.C. to Communities Across America
Washington – The U.S. Department of the Treasury today launched the Beta.USAspending.gov website to put important data into the hands of taxpayers by empowering them to track how their tax dollars are spent. The new site is designed to follow federal agency spending and, for the first time, links spending data to awards distributed by the government.
“The new site provides taxpayers with the ability to track nearly $4 trillion in government spending from Washington, D.C. directly into their communities and cities,” said U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin. “Furthermore, greater access to data will drive better decision making and strengthen accountability and transparency – qualities central to the Administration’s focus on a more innovative and effective government.”
Federal spending flows through hundreds of federal agencies and programs to thousands of companies and nonprofits and millions of individual citizens. Visitors to the site can search by location, federal agency or by keyword for a specific program or type of spending. They can also search for a specific recipient of federal funds, such as a business or university.
Treasury released this new version of the USAspending.gov site in accordance with Digital Accountability and Transparency Act (DATA Act) requirements. The DATA Act was enacted into law in May 2014 to make federal spending data more accessible, searchable, and reliable. The data on Beta.USAspending.gov is compiled by Treasury with the assistance of other federal agencies and will be updated and published on the site quarterly, with the first batch of data published in May 2017. Over the past two years, Treasury conducted extensive user research and stakeholder outreach to develop the new site.
Treasury currently runs the USAspending.gov website which provides data about awards distributed by the federal government. The “Beta” site will run concurrently with the existing version of the USAspending.gov website over the coming months to minimize disruptions to users’ data access and provide time to add enhancements. Treasury plans on expanding and improving the site over time to add functionality and features based on feedback.
Please visit the following link to view an infographic on the data available at USAspending.gov:
Reference:
https://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/sm0076.aspx