LAST LOOKS? MAPPING GROWTH OF GOVERNMENT
Headcount and spending changes at all agencies with data are now all accessible to the public, but work for DOGE remains.
Last month Open the Books auditors took a closer look at the Federal Register – the official publication of the U.S. government. It publishes every new rule and regulation, every Executive Order and Congressional hearing, and much more. It should be a reliable encyclopedia of government, but we found at least 75 of the 441 entities listed were defunct – defunded, disbanded, renamed, merged with another entity, completed their mission, etc.
We all know waste is rampant – but this was more evidence that federal recordkeeping is also a big mess. The scope and complexity of the task before DOGE became even clearer in this context.
So we set out to catalog every agency that reports data – not just their current costs, but the size of their staffs and spending stretching back decades. The result will be the clearest picture yet of government’s growth over time.
We released the two batches of data in the ensuing weeks, tracking spending and headcounts for big Cabinet-level agencies like the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Education, and State; as well as more obscure, independent ones like the Administrative Conference of the United States.
At agency after agency, we found spending outstripped growth of the staff and even inflation – often many times over.
THE FINAL BATCH
This week’s batch of agencies revealed more of the same problematic trend and the reason DOGE is needed – sure, headcounts may be flat or growing modestly, but spending continues to soar much further and faster than even inflation. In multiple instances, upticks in spending since 2021 also appear to comport with key priorities of the Biden administration.
Click here to view the full list of agencies we’ve assessed. And keep reading for one last set of remarkable examples.
The list now includes every Cabinet agency – this week we’ve added the Departments of Housing & Urban Development, Agriculture (USDA), Treasury and Veterans’ Affairs – as well as the Executive Office of the President. Newly added independent agencies include National Foundation on the Arts and Humanities, Council on Environmental Quality and the Social Security Administration.
BY THE NUMBERS
Department of Agriculture
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) is a perfect example of the staff vs. spending pattern. Since 2000, employee counts shrank from 106,715 to 92,072 in 2024. But annual spending skyrocketed in the same period: in 2000, it was $75.07 billion; by 2024, $254.78 billion – 339% higher.
National Foundation the Arts and Humanities
This agency includes the National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities and the Institute for Museum and Library Sciences.
Headcount has bounced back and forth between 416 and 455 since 2000, settling at 455 in 2024. But outlays have predictably soared, particularly during the Biden administration. In 2000, NEAH was spending $406 million annually; by 2024, it was spending $998 million, more than double.
Previously Open the Books reported on off-the-wall podcasts that were funded using grants from these endowments. Just a few of many examples:
Subtitle ($227,420 from the National Endowment of the Humanities), about linguistics, has an episode called “the little pronoun that could” about a new gender-neutral pronoun being introduced in Swedish.
Sacred & Profane ($199,663 from the National Endowment of the Humanities), about American religious life, has an episode on how “Satanists play an important role in American religious and political life, showing us how ideas about religion, pluralism, and the separation of church and state are changing in the U.S.”
CalArts Center for New Performance Podcast ($20,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts), about new artistic works from UCLA, has an episode on “the specter of Emmett Till’s murder to create a nightmarish reverie on white violence and silence in America.”
Artists and Hackers ($10,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts), about the intersection of art and technology, has episodes on “Erotic Ecologies and the Fluid Relationships Between Humans and AI,” and an “AI chatbot experiment trained on erotic literature, feminist and queer theory, and an ethics of embodiment.”
FURTHER READING: US taxpayers forked over $8.5M for government-produced podcasts: ‘Left-wing agitprop’ | New York Post | February 21, 2024
Veterans Affairs
The Department of Veterans’ Affairs is a somewhat unique example. Its employee ranks have understandably grown significantly since 2000, as the United States engaged in multiple kinetic wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2000, there were 219,415 employees; by 2024 there were 486,522 employees. The VA had more than double its employee headcount. Over the same period, though, spending grew from $47.04 billion to $345.98 billion. Annual spending had grown 735.5% higher.
Again, in the context of war injuries this may be completely explicable. But the VA continues to report funding shortfalls that could interrupt benefits payments to veterans in need. Congress approved an additional $3 billion in September, before the VA found it had $5 billion to carry over from the prior fiscal year which could have covered the issue. They further predicted a need for $12 billion more taxpayer dollars to be made whole for 2025.
As reported by the Military Times, the confusion and worry has sparked criticism over VA bookkeeping and promises of closer oversight in the future.
“VA’s inability to accurately forecast its budget needs is unacceptable,” said Rep. John Carter, R-Texas, chairman of the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Subcommittee, part of the House Appropriations Committee.
According to the Times, “He blasted senior leaders for stoking ‘fear that benefits and pensions would be interrupted’ and demanded better transparency in future budget requests.”
By December, the $12 billion request had also been revised, leading Rep. Derrick Van Orden to criticize the VA for “fearmongering statements.”
There were also troubling reports that the Biden administration had mismanaged taxpayer dollars by having some migrant medical care bills processed through the VA’s Financial Service Center for reimbursement. In effect, staff and resources were being diverted from an already-strapped VA to those in detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
“The Department of Veterans Affairs is not a tool to be wielded for political benefit, but a mechanism to protect and care for the brave servicemembers of this great nation,” Sen. Joni Ernst and her colleagues said in an August 2024 letter to then-Secretary Denis McDonough.
Ernst, who has established herself as an advocate for veterans getting the care and benefits they’re owed, introduced legislation on the shortfall in September. The Protecting Regular Order (PRO) for Veterans Act would create a three-year requirement for the VA to “submit quarterly, in-person budget reports to Congress. Additional financial shortfalls would result in withholding bonuses for senior VA and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) personnel.”
DOGE should examine VA bookeeping and operations, identifying efficiencies that ensure veterans get what they’re owed amid unprecedented use of benefits and medical appointments.
Council on Environmental Quality
This advisory council is part of the Executive Office of the President and has consistently maintained a tiny presence on the White House campus. From 2000 through 2020, there were between 1 and 3 members each year. But during the Biden administration, the number immediately started to go higher: 4 in 2022, 9 in 2023, and 17 in 2024. That’s more than five times as many staff in relatively short order.
Spending also jumped after having been on a steady downward trajectory. In 2000, CEQ spent $22M; in 2020 it had fallen to $12 million. But by 2023 it had exploded to $45 million – and then $51 million in 2024! Since 2000, annual spending had more than doubled. But since 2020, it has more than quadrupled!
This may be reflective of the Biden administration’s focus on “environmental justice” and “Green New Deal” style policy proposals, which received enormous funding for grantmaking through the Environmental Protection Agency via the Infrastructure Bill and the so-called Inflation Reduction Act.
The Council on Environmental Quality advises the president on environmental policy issues both nationally and internationally, and prepares on annual report on environmental quality to Congress. It was created as part of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969.
CONCLUSION
Time after time, at agency after agency, we see spending skyrocketing since 2000, even when headcounts grew modestly and stayed flat. In this most recent batch of examples, we also saw Biden administration spending priorities reveal themselves through the outlays at key agencies. In particular, the VA faces increasing scrutiny for its delivery of care and benefits that won’t go away as spending and staff grow to unprecedented levels.
In the case of the National Foundation of the Arts and Humanities, it may already be in the crosshairs of DOGE. President Trump signed an executive order to slash the Institute for Museum and Library Services; he placed restrictions on grants related to “gender ideology” from the National Endowment for the Arts; and National Endowment for Humanities Chair Shelly Lowe left the fund “at the Direction of President Trump,” according to a press release.
Even as Open the Books has documented over 200 federal agencies by headcount and annual outlays – with great historical context – there’s still more to be uncovered.
The Federal Register lists 441 agencies, of which we found at least 75 were defunct. On top of that, there are a number of funded-only agencies. That means that although there are no federal employees at those entities, they operate using taxpayer dollars, so we still collectively pay for their activities.
This is yet another category of spending to tackle in future reports and for DOGE to scrutinize as it goes about its project of restoring efficient, effective government for taxpayers.
A problem with funding for government agencies is that if you don’t spend your whole budget you will get penalized for it so there is this perverse incentive to be wasteful. I have always thought that there should be some kind of incentive for government agencies to try and save money. I don’t know how it could work but wish someone smarter than me will figure it out. I was also thinking about how many administrations have attempted to make a dent in this area but were simply overwhelmed by the scope and complexity of the problem. Enter AI and some smart young whippersnappers. Also I would like to say, God bless Elon Musk. He is taking a big hit for the American people and I appreciate it. Thanks for the article.
Great job, incredible work!
The people are the employers of government, the government is the employee. We, the boss, the people, should supervise government, to make sure it performs as required and remains honest.
However, as things have been turned around and upside-down over decades, the people have been hoodwinked into believing that the government is the boss and should monitor us, while it became ever more secretive, corrupt and unaccountable.
It is encouraging to see that the trend is finally being reversed and the people are taking their power back