Stay informed — get updates when we publish.
Stay informed. Get updates when we publish.
Insights on federal spending, budget analysis, and making government finances transparent.
In 2010, the Supreme Court ruled 5–4 that corporations could spend unlimited money on elections. Outside spending has since nearly quintupled. This is how it happened, why it matters, and why 80% of Americans — including 76% of Republicans — want it reversed.
Congress cut healthcare for 10 million Americans. Then three senators proposed spending $400 million on a White House ballroom. Here are 6 things that money could actually buy.
We updated every number on this site. Here's what changed, what the sources are, and what the new data tells us about where your tax dollars are going.
Social media companies make money from views. Provocative content gets views. Lies are provocative. So lies get amplified. And nobody has an incentive to stop it.
We punish lies everywhere except where they do the most damage. Fraud is illegal. Perjury is illegal. False advertising is illegal. But lie to millions about an election? Protected speech. That's incoherent.
We had a flawed agreement that capped Iran's nuclear program and cost nothing. We traded it for two bombing campaigns, 19+ dead Americans, and a nuclear stockpile we can no longer locate.
American taxpayers have sent $17.9 billion to Israel since October 2023. That money covers their defense so they can afford to cover their citizens. We cover neither.
FBI Director Kash Patel spent $490,000 in taxpayer money flying to hockey games, girlfriend visits, and sports events. He previously criticized this exact behavior. The hypocrisy is documented. The costs are real. The accountability is missing.
80% of Americans want Citizens United reversed — including 76% of Republicans. The DISCLOSE Act, which doesn't even overturn it but simply requires donors to identify themselves, cannot pass the Senate. Here's what's blocking reform and what would actually work.
In 2022, a Chicago billionaire donated $1.6 billion to a conservative political network in a single transaction — the largest political donation in American history. Voters had no legal right to know it happened. That's dark money, and it hit $1.9 billion in 2024.
Elon Musk spent $291 million on the 2024 election — more than any individual donor in American history. The money was legal, disclosed, and spent on one of the most direct experiments in political purchasing power the country has ever seen.
Political organizations are exempt from the Do Not Call Registry, and a legal technicality lets them text millions of citizens without consent. The people who write the spam laws should have to follow them.
Super PACs are legally required to operate independently of the campaigns they support. In practice, former campaign staffers run them, campaigns broadcast strategy on YouTube, and the FEC has issued exactly $26,000 in fines for coordination in fourteen years.
In 2024, six people each donated over $100 million to federal elections. Three hundred billionaires — 0.0087% of all donors — accounted for nearly 20% of all election spending. Your vote counted. Their vote counted $291 million times.
87% of adult Americans already carry a state-issued ID accepted for federal purposes. A one-time verification process could attach civic credentials to that same card — no extra paperwork, no repeated document checks.