Department of Veterans Affairs federal obligations in Iowa

A thick VA file on Iowa

Department of Veterans Affairs as awarding agency, Iowa as place-of-performance: 29,231 records summing to $4,151,875,194.61. A Department of Veterans Affairs award coded outside IA is out. An award in Iowa from a different awarding agency is out even if the topic sounds related. Iowa (IA) excludes Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Wisconsin, and South Dakota. A Rock Island-coded award is Illinois.

Twenty-nine thousand two hundred thirty-one awards is a thick VA action file. Volume can rise on recurring health and benefit rows without each row being a new veteran. Unique recipients are unpublished. Do not read 29,231 as 29,231 unique veteran headcount, clinic visits, or disability ratings. The overlay Department of Veterans Affairs in Iowa is the both-keys table. Iowa federal spending is the all-agency state hub. Department of Veterans Affairs is the agency book without an IA filter. All spending ties lists other joins.

Iowa City and Des Moines are unpublished metro shares of $4,151,875,194.61. The join stays statewide. Correlation is not causation: Iowa did not “cause” $4,151,875,194.61 by existing as a large or small place. Population and outcome scores are not packet facts. The join is 036 × IA only.

Award rows are not unique veterans

$4,151,875,194.61 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 IA place-of-performance tag.

Do not treat 29,231 awards as a census of veteran headcount, clinic visits, or disability ratings. Parent hubs are supposed to be larger than this pair. If Iowa federal spending or Department of Veterans Affairs matched $4,151,875,194.61 and 29,231, the join would be pointless. Use the overlay when both keys must stay on. Illinois, Minnesota, and Nebraska VA joins are other pairs, not addends.

Iowa, not a Des Moines-only catchment

Place of performance IA is a geography tag on the award, not a metro list and not a commuting zone. Iowa (IA) excludes Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Wisconsin, and South Dakota. A Rock Island-coded award is Illinois. Recipient address can differ from that state tag.

Iowa City and Des Moines are unpublished metro shares of $4,151,875,194.61. The join stays statewide. This packet does not split $4,151,875,194.61 by city, county, or named facility. 29,231 awards stay statewide. A county table would be a different extract.

Many actions, still commitments

Even a thick or thin file records obligations, not necessarily outlays. $4,151,875,194.61 can include amounts that pay on a later schedule. Citing it as cash already sent in Iowa confuses two concepts. Deobligations and upward adjustments both move the total.

Iowa’s own budget is a different ledger. Mixing it with the 29,231-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 $4,151,875,194.61. Sharing a state with VA does not mean campaign donations funded these awards.

Citing the VA–Iowa pair

Cite USAspending.gov: Department of Veterans Affairs (agency 036) obligated $4,151,875,194.61 on 29,231 awards coded to Iowa. Name both sides. Keep “obligations.” Do not relabel the total as veteran headcount, clinic visits, or disability ratings.

Prefer Department of Veterans Affairs in Iowa if the overlay has refreshed after an ingest. Iowa federal spending still includes every other awarding agency tagged to IA. Department of Veterans Affairs is the 036 parent without the IA filter. All spending ties indexes other pairs. Do not add those parents into $4,151,875,194.61.

A usable footnote names Department of Veterans Affairs, Iowa, $4,151,875,194.61, and 29,231. The compact headline $4.15 billion is that same dollar total rounded. It is not a second extract. The implied mean near $142,037 is $4,151,875,194.61 divided by 29,231. Means are not medians. USAspending.gov remains the originating system.

Questions

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

USAspending.gov records $4,151,875,194.61 across 29,231 awards with awarding agency 036 and an Iowa 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 Iowa is the live overlay for this pair. Keep both keys when quoting $4,151,875,194.61.

Is $4,151,875,194.61 a measure of veteran headcount, clinic visits, or disability ratings?

No. The packet publishes $4,151,875,194.61 and 29,231 awards for agency 036 inside IA 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 29,231 awards?

That is the award-record count for 036 × IA. Combined with $4,151,875,194.61, the average is about $142,037. Modifications and repeat instruments add rows. 29,231 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 Iowa is the overlay. Iowa 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 $4,151,875,194.61. USAspending.gov is the source. Obligations are not outlays.