District of Columbia federal obligations next to FEC receipts

Why DC appears on both ledgers at once

This page is a join. SpendingVault indexes USAspending.gov obligations for the District at $264,978,830,057. LobbyVault indexes FEC.gov candidate receipts for the District at $6.8 million. The match key is the postal abbreviation DC. A Schedule A contribution disclosed in the capital does not become a contract, grant, or loan on USAspending because both rows mention the District. No award ID in this packet maps to an FEC committee ID.

The scale gap is the first fact to keep in view. $265.0 billion in obligations sits beside $6.8 million in candidate receipts. Obligations measure what federal agencies promised to pay recipients whose place of performance is coded to the District. Receipts measure what federal candidate committees booked. Citing $6.8 million as a slice of $264,978,830,057 would mix statutes.

Open District of Columbia federal spending for the award table. Open District of Columbia FEC totals for the candidate-receipt table. All spending ties lists other state joins built the same way. None of those pages converts donations into obligations.

What USAspending actually totals for the District

The spending side is $264,978,830,057 in obligations and 100,593 award actions. An obligation is a legal commitment recorded on USAspending.gov. It is not an outlay and not an FEC operating expenditure. Award count (100,593) is a row count of those actions, including modifications. Repeat awards to the same entity add rows. Dividing the dollar total by the row count yields about $2,634,168 per award on average — a ratio of two packet facts, not a typical contract size.

Place of performance in the District is a geography tag, not proof that every dollar was disbursed to District residents. Agencies headquartered in Washington often code administrative awards to DC even when later work occurs elsewhere. The District of Columbia federal spending hub keeps agency and recipient slices on the obligation ledger. Those slices still contain no FEC contributor names.

A tiny FEC book next to a capital award extract

Federal candidate committees tagged to the District reported $6.8 million across 109 filers. Democratic committees account for $6.8 million (99.8% of receipts). Republican committees account for $5,715 (0.1%). Other and unaffiliated filers account for $9,821 (0.1%). Party codes describe the candidate committee. They do not describe vendors on federal awards.

109 is a filing count, not a November ballot census and not a headcount of contractors. A 99.8 percent Democratic share of $6.8 million is still only a campaign-committee fact. Copying that share onto 100,593 awards would assign party to a ledger that has no party field in this packet.

Headquarters folklore is not a third total

Researchers open this join because the capital concentrates federal offices. That motive is not a packet dollar. Only $264,978,830,057, 100,593 awards, $6.8 million, 109 committees, and the party lines are facts here. Independent expenditures about District candidates can be paid from elsewhere and sit in neither total. Local District procurement paid without a federal award sits outside the obligation extract. Statehood-debate talking points are not a USAspending field and not an FEC receipt field in this packet.

Adding $6.8 million to $264,978,830,057 invents a ‘District federal money’ headline no agency published. Subtracting receipts from obligations pretends campaigns are a line item inside 100,593 awards. They are not. FEC bulk data and USAspending bulk data are collected under different statutes, on different forms, for different filers.

How to cite the District pair without mixing sources

A clean footnote uses two sentences. USAspending.gov: $264,978,830,057 in obligations across 100,593 awards coded to the District of Columbia. FEC.gov: $6.8 million in candidate receipts across 109 committees, with Democratic $6.8 million, Republican $5,715, and other $9,821. Do not print a partisan share of obligations. This packet has no party field on awards. Campaign contributions are not federal awards. Amended candidate reports move $6.8 million. Award restatements move $264,978,830,057. Rewrite only the sentence whose source moved.

Questions

Do District of Columbia campaign donations pay for federal awards?

No. FEC receipts of $6.8 million and USAspending obligations of $264,978,830,057 are different datasets joined only by the DC code. Candidate committees report contributions. Agencies record 100,593 awards as obligations. A shared geography tag is not a funding path.

How much has the federal government obligated in the District of Columbia?

USAspending.gov records $264,978,830,057 in obligations across 100,593 awards with District place of performance. That figure is a commitment total, not Treasury outlays and not a restatement of FEC candidate receipts. Read District of Columbia federal spending for agency detail.

How much have DC federal candidates raised?

FEC.gov aggregates show $6.8 million in candidate receipts across 109 committees tagged to the District. Democratic filers reported $6.8 million (99.8%). Republican filers reported $5,715. That split does not describe USAspending awards. Open District of Columbia FEC totals for the live roster.

Where are the live DC spending and FEC tables?

Award obligations live on District of Columbia federal spending at SpendingVault, sourced from USAspending.gov. Candidate receipts live on District of Columbia FEC totals at LobbyVault. All spending ties lists other state joins. Original filings remain at the source agencies.