Arkansas federal obligations next to FEC candidate receipts

AR is a postal code, not a poultry-PAC wire

SpendingVault indexes USAspending.gov obligations for Arkansas at $108,160,616,633 across 232,655 awards. LobbyVault indexes FEC.gov candidate receipts at $21.3 million across 348 committees. The join key is AR. Agriculture and military-installation folklore may bring a reader here. Those stories are not packet dollars and they do not connect a contribution to an award ID.

The scale gap is the first honest observation: $21.3 million is a receipt total; $108,160,616,633 is an obligation total. Adding them invents an Arkansas federal-money headline no agency published.

Open Arkansas federal spending for the award table, Arkansas FEC totals for the candidate table, and All spending ties for sibling joins. None converts donations into spending.

Award obligations without a campaign overlay

$108,160,616,633 covers award obligations USAspending attributes to Arkansas. 232,655 is an action count, not unique recipients. Average obligation per action is about $464,897 ($108,160,616,633 ÷ 232,655), which hides the mix of instruments in the file. Health, defense, and civilian agencies can all appear without appearing on a campaign report.

Recipient and agency names live on Arkansas federal spending. They do not live inside the FEC committees. Independent expenditures that mention an Arkansas candidate can be paid from elsewhere and sit in neither total. This packet publishes obligations, not outlays.

Republican-heavy receipts and a tiny other line

Republican committees reported $16.5 million (77.2% of $21.3 million). Democratic committees reported $4.8 million (22.7%). Other filers reported $2,703 (0.0%), a sliver. 348 federal candidate committees tagged to Arkansas sit behind those lines. 77.2% is a committee-label share, not a vendor share.

USAspending award rows in this packet have no Republican flag. Copying that percentage onto the obligation total would assign party to grantees this file does not party-code. State races file with Arkansas’s state system, outside the FEC extract.

Little Rock versus the rest of Arkansas is not a packet split

This extract does not divide $108,160,616,633 or $21.3 million between central Arkansas and the rest of the state. 232,655 awards and 348 committees are statewide. A metro cut would be a different file.

Do not divide $108,160,616,633 by $21.3 million and call the result a return on donations. Do not divide 232,655 by 348. Candidate committees are not award recipients in this join. Correlation is not causation.

Arkansas citation block

USAspending.gov: $108,160,616,633; 232,655 awards. FEC.gov: $21.3 million; 348 committees; Republican $16.5 million; Democratic $4.8 million; other $2,703. Two sentences. No plus sign. Campaign contributions are not federal awards.

348 is a filing count, not a November ballot census. 232,655 is an action count, not unique vendors. State-office campaigns file under Arkansas law and sit outside the FEC extract. Local procurement paid without a federal award sits outside the obligation total. Independent expenditures about Arkansas candidates can be paid from elsewhere and sit in neither total.

What a later Arkansas ingest would change

USAspending restatements can move $108,160,616,633 and 232,655. FEC amendments can move $21.3 million and the party lines. Rewrite only the sentence whose source moved. Arkansas federal spending and Arkansas FEC totals are the live hubs.

Do not rank Arkansas as more influential because receipts sit beside obligations. Influence is not a field in this packet. All spending ties keeps Arkansas in a series of geographic joins without publishing a blended total. Installation names belong on Arkansas federal spending if they appear as recipients; they do not belong on the FEC sentence. Keep 77.2% on the receipt sentence only.

Poultry and installation talking points are not packet NAICS. Keep Arkansas’s obligation total labeled as commitments, not outlays. A researcher who wants both pictures keeps two tabs and does not add the totals. Little Rock is not a third ledger in this extract. Amended candidate reports move receipts; award restatements move obligations. Rewrite only the sentence whose source moved.

Questions

Do Arkansas campaign donations fund Arkansas federal awards?

No. $21.3 million is FEC candidate receipts from 348 committees. $108,160,616,633 is USAspending obligations from 232,655 awards. A shared AR code is not a payment trail from donors to vendors. Original filings remain on FEC.gov and USAspending.gov.

How much has the federal government obligated in Arkansas?

USAspending.gov records $108,160,616,633 in obligations across 232,655 awards coded to Arkansas. That is an agency-award extract, not FEC operating expenditure, and not a restatement of candidate receipts. Original filings remain on the source sites.

How Republican is Arkansas’s federal candidate fundraising?

Republican committees reported $16.5 million, or 77.2% of $21.3 million. Democratic committees reported $4.8 million (22.7%). Other filers reported $2,703. Those shares describe 348 candidate committees, not award recipients. Original filings remain on the source sites.

Where are Arkansas’s FEC and spending hubs?

Arkansas federal spending on SpendingVault holds obligations. Arkansas FEC totals on LobbyVault holds candidate receipts. All spending ties lists other state joins. If a later bulk file disagrees with this snapshot, the later extract controls. Original filings remain on the source sites.