USA Spending – Bias and Credibility

These sources have minimal bias and use very few loaded words (wording that attempts to influence an audience by using an appeal to emotion or stereotypes).  The reporting is factual and usually sourced.  These are the most credible media sources. See all Least Biased sources.

• Overall, we rate USAspending.gov Least Biased based on providing government-based data. We also rate them Very-High for factual reporting, providing accurate statistical information, and being a resource for credible fact-checkers.

Detailed Report

Bias Rating: LEAST BIASED
Factual Reporting: VERY HIGH
Country: USA
Press Freedom Rating: MOSTLY FREE
Media Type: Organization/Foundation
Traffic/Popularity: Medium Traffic
MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY

History

USAspending.gov is the publicly accessible, searchable website mandated by the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 to give the American public access to information on how their tax dollars are spent. According to their about page, “Its mission is to show the American public what the federal government spends every year and how it spends the money. You can follow the money from the Congressional appropriations to the federal agencies and down to local communities and businesses.”

Read our profile on the United States government and media.

Funded by / Ownership

USAspending.gov is maintained by the Office of Management and Budget. The Congressional Budget Office will cost $15 million over its authorized time period of 2007–2011. The current cost to run the website is unknown.

Analysis / Bias

In review, USAspending.gov was created in response to The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 (S. 2590), which was an Act of Congress that requires the full disclosure to the public of all entities or organizations receiving federal funds beginning in fiscal year (FY) 2007. It continues to maintain its website as of this review in November 2022.

The sole purpose of the website is to be transparent to the public on how much and where the money is being spent by the Government. For example, in 2019, they revealed that the government spent $4.45 trillion and, of that, collected $3.5 trillion in revenue for a deficit of close to 1 trillion. Long story short, this is a source of statistics on how much the government spends and collects in tax revenue.

Failed Fact Checks

• A factual search reveals they have never failed a fact check but, in fact, are used as a resource for IFCN fact-checkers.

Overall, we rate USAspending.gov Least Biased based on providing government-based data. We also rate them Very-High for factual reporting, providing accurate statistical information, and being a resource for credible fact-checkers. (7/10/2016) Updated (D. Van Zandt 11/16/2022)

Source: https://www.usaspending.gov/