Chart assignment

Charts to read and discuss

Read each chart, then answer its questions. Every chart shows its source and date; open it for a table of the numbers and the data to download.

  1. Where does federal spending go?

Chart 1 of 1 · Federal budget

Where does federal spending go?

The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are on the chart's page.

Social Security was the biggest item in fiscal 2026 at $1.67 trillion, out of $7.4 trillion in total. Next came Medicare ($1.07 trillion), Net Interest ($1.05 trillion), Health ($1.03 trillion) and National Defense ($965 billion). Two accounting lines are below zero, so the bars add up to the total.

Questions to discuss

  1. In one sentence of your own, what does this chart show?
  2. Find the biggest change or difference in the chart. What might explain it?
  3. Who collected these numbers, and how recent are they? What else would you want to know before drawing a conclusion?

Source: U.S. Treasury Fiscal Data, Monthly Treasury Statement (Table 9) (Public domain (U.S. government work)) · Data as of Sep 30, 2026

Open the chart and its numbers

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