Department of Veterans Affairs federal obligations in Arkansas

A high-count VA file on Arkansas

Department of Veterans Affairs as awarding agency, Arkansas as place-of-performance: 24,552 records summing to $6,497,982,878.23. A Department of Veterans Affairs award coded outside AR is out. An award in Arkansas from a different awarding agency is out even if the topic sounds related. Arkansas (AR) excludes Missouri, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and Oklahoma. Place of performance is one state code.

Twenty-four thousand five hundred fifty-two awards is a thick VA action file: many more rows than a thin Energy-style cell, still a record count rather than unique veterans. Unique recipients are unpublished. Do not read 24,552 as 24,552 unique veteran headcount, clinic visits, or disability ratings. The overlay Department of Veterans Affairs in Arkansas is the both-keys table. Arkansas federal spending is the all-agency state hub. Department of Veterans Affairs is the agency book without an AR filter. All spending ties lists other joins.

Little Rock is not a published metro share of $6,497,982,878.23. The join stays statewide. Correlation is not causation: Arkansas did not “cause” $6,497,982,878.23 by existing as a large or small place. Population and outcome scores are not packet facts. The join is 036 × AR only.

Award rows are not unique veterans

$6,497,982,878.23 does not measure veteran headcount, clinic visits, or disability ratings. Those series are not USAspending fields on this aggregate. The cell sums award obligations with awarding-agency code 036 and an AR place-of-performance tag.

Do not treat 24,552 awards as a census of veteran headcount, clinic visits, or disability ratings. Parent hubs are supposed to be larger than this pair. If Arkansas federal spending or Department of Veterans Affairs matched $6,497,982,878.23 and 24,552, the join would be pointless. Use the overlay when both keys must stay on. Missouri, Tennessee, and Mississippi VA joins are other pairs, not addends.

Arkansas, not a Delta-versus-Ozarks split

Place of performance AR is a geography tag on the award, not a metro list and not a commuting zone. Arkansas (AR) excludes Missouri, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and Oklahoma. Place of performance is one state code. Recipient address can differ from that state tag.

Little Rock is not a published metro share of $6,497,982,878.23. The join stays statewide. This packet does not split $6,497,982,878.23 by city, county, or named facility. 24,552 awards stay statewide. A county table would be a different extract.

Obligations ahead of outlays

Even a thick or thin file records obligations, not necessarily outlays. $6,497,982,878.23 can include amounts that pay on a later schedule. Citing it as cash already sent in Arkansas confuses two concepts. Deobligations and upward adjustments both move the total.

Arkansas’s own budget is a different ledger. Mixing it with the 24,552-award USAspending file leaves this series. No fiscal year is published in this packet, so this page does not invent one. Keep the obligation label on $6,497,982,878.23.

Citing the VA–Arkansas pair

Cite USAspending.gov: Department of Veterans Affairs (agency 036) obligated $6,497,982,878.23 on 24,552 awards coded to Arkansas. Name both sides. Keep “obligations.” Do not relabel the total as veteran headcount, clinic visits, or disability ratings.

Prefer Department of Veterans Affairs in Arkansas if the overlay has refreshed after an ingest. Arkansas federal spending still includes every other awarding agency tagged to AR. Department of Veterans Affairs is the 036 parent without the AR filter. All spending ties indexes other pairs. Do not add those parents into $6,497,982,878.23.

A usable footnote names Department of Veterans Affairs, Arkansas, $6,497,982,878.23, and 24,552. The compact headline $6.50 billion is that same dollar total rounded. It is not a second extract. The implied mean near $264,662 is $6,497,982,878.23 divided by 24,552. Means are not medians. USAspending.gov remains the originating system.

Questions

How much has the Department of Veterans Affairs obligated in Arkansas?

USAspending.gov records $6,497,982,878.23 across 24,552 awards with awarding agency 036 and an Arkansas tag. That is an obligation join, not an outlay and not a count of veteran headcount, clinic visits, or disability ratings. Department of Veterans Affairs in Arkansas is the live overlay for this pair. Keep both keys when quoting $6,497,982,878.23.

Is $6,497,982,878.23 a measure of veteran headcount, clinic visits, or disability ratings?

No. The packet publishes $6,497,982,878.23 and 24,552 awards for agency 036 inside AR coding. Those other series are unpublished here. Unique recipients are unpublished. Quote the dollar total and the award count together. Obligations are not outlays.

Why does this VA file have 24,552 awards?

That is the award-record count for 036 × AR. Combined with $6,497,982,878.23, the average is about $264,662. Modifications and repeat instruments add rows. 24,552 is not unique veteran headcount, clinic visits, or disability ratings. Later ingests can revise the count. Prefer the overlay if the table moved.

Where is the live table?

Department of Veterans Affairs in Arkansas is the overlay. Arkansas federal spending and Department of Veterans Affairs are the parents, not addends. All spending ties lists other pairs. Keep both sides of the join when citing $6,497,982,878.23. USAspending.gov is the source. Obligations are not outlays.