Department of Veterans Affairs federal obligations in Montana

A high-count VA file on Montana

Department of Veterans Affairs as awarding agency, Montana as place-of-performance: 13,441 records summing to $2,428,013,044.65. A Department of Veterans Affairs award coded outside MT is out. An award in Montana from a different awarding agency is out even if the topic sounds related. Montana (MT) excludes Idaho, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, and any Canadian tag. A Fargo-coded award is North Dakota.

Thirteen thousand four hundred forty-one awards is a thick VA action file: many more rows than a thin Energy cell, still a record count rather than unique veterans. Unique recipients are unpublished. Do not read 13,441 as 13,441 unique enrolled veterans, hospital beds, or disability ratings. The overlay Department of Veterans Affairs in Montana is the both-keys table. Montana federal spending is the all-agency state hub. Department of Veterans Affairs is the agency book without an MT filter. All spending ties lists other joins.

Billings-versus-Missoula clinic folklore is not a packet split. The dollar total stays statewide. Correlation is not causation: Montana did not “cause” $2,428,013,044.65 by existing as a large or small place. Population and outcome scores are not packet facts. The join is 036 × MT only.

Award rows are not unique veterans

$2,428,013,044.65 does not measure enrolled veterans, hospital beds, or disability ratings. Those series are not USAspending fields on this aggregate. The cell sums award obligations with awarding-agency code 036 and an MT place-of-performance tag.

Do not treat 13,441 awards as a census of enrolled veterans, hospital beds, or disability ratings. Parent hubs are supposed to be larger than this pair. If Montana federal spending or Department of Veterans Affairs matched $2,428,013,044.65 and 13,441, the join would be pointless. Use the overlay when both keys must stay on. Idaho, Wyoming, and North Dakota VA joins are other pairs, not addends.

Montana, not a Northern Rockies catchment

Place of performance MT is a geography tag on the award, not a metro list and not a commuting zone. Montana (MT) excludes Idaho, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, and any Canadian tag. A Fargo-coded award is North Dakota. Recipient address can differ from that state tag.

Billings-versus-Missoula clinic folklore is not a packet split. The dollar total stays statewide. This packet does not split $2,428,013,044.65 by city, county, or named facility. 13,441 awards stay statewide. A county table would be a different extract.

Thick VA action file versus clinic cash

Even a thick or thin file records obligations, not necessarily outlays. $2,428,013,044.65 can include amounts that pay on a later schedule. Citing it as cash already sent in Montana confuses two concepts. Deobligations and upward adjustments both move the total.

Montana’s own budget is a different ledger. Mixing it with the 13,441-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 $2,428,013,044.65.

Citing the VA–Montana pair

Cite USAspending.gov: Department of Veterans Affairs (agency 036) obligated $2,428,013,044.65 on 13,441 awards coded to Montana. Name both sides. Keep “obligations.” Do not relabel the total as enrolled veterans, hospital beds, or disability ratings.

Prefer Department of Veterans Affairs in Montana if the overlay has refreshed after an ingest. Montana federal spending still includes every other awarding agency tagged to MT. Department of Veterans Affairs is the 036 parent without the MT filter. All spending ties indexes other pairs. Do not add those parents into $2,428,013,044.65.

A usable footnote names Department of Veterans Affairs, Montana, $2,428,013,044.65, and 13,441. The compact headline $2.43 billion is that same dollar total rounded. It is not a second extract. The implied mean near $180,642 is $2,428,013,044.65 divided by 13,441. Means are not medians. USAspending.gov remains the originating system.

Questions

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

USAspending.gov records $2,428,013,044.65 across 13,441 awards with awarding agency 036 and a Montana tag. That is an obligation join, not an outlay and not a count of enrolled veterans, hospital beds, or disability ratings. Department of Veterans Affairs in Montana is the live overlay for this pair. Keep both keys when quoting $2,428,013,044.65.

Is $2,428,013,044.65 a measure of enrolled veterans, hospital beds, or disability ratings?

No. The packet publishes $2,428,013,044.65 and 13,441 awards for agency 036 inside MT 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 13,441 awards?

That is the award-record count for 036 × MT. Combined with $2,428,013,044.65, the average is about $180,642. Modifications and repeat instruments add rows. 13,441 is not unique enrolled veterans, hospital beds, 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 Montana is the overlay. Montana 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 $2,428,013,044.65. USAspending.gov is the source. Obligations are not outlays.