Government Spending Metrics

Executive Summary — What the Numbers Mean

This dashboard separates Government Spending into three questions: whether fiscal data is complete enough to support a trustworthy public grade, whether related bills are moving through Congress, and whether responsibility can be attributed to the right people. The current fiscal confidence score is 75.5, grade C. The current legislative progress score is 34.3, grade F. The role-aware attribution layer is Internal Review Ready. A low legislative progress grade means the issue is not moving through Congress; it is not the same thing as a cost estimate.

Last Full Metrics Refresh: 2026-05-05 17:11:05 Role coverage: Coverage file not found Attribution status: Current

Layer	Question Answered	How to Use It
Cost / Fiscal Confidence	Do we have enough fiscal classification, amount, and official-estimate data to support a trustworthy grade?	Use this to judge data quality before treating a score as public-facing.
Legislative Progress	Are Government Spending bills moving through Congress, stalling, or becoming stale?	Use this as an accountability warning about congressional action or inaction.
Role-Aware Attribution	Can responsibility be separated among sponsors, cosponsors, committee leaders, and chamber leaders?	Use this to avoid blaming the wrong person when a bill stalls.

Public-readiness caution: These metrics are designed to support a transparent public demonstration, but the dashboard should not overstate certainty. Cost confidence, legislative progress, and accountability attribution should be read together.

Cost-Estimate Interpretation: The Government Spending cost-estimate metrics are ready for public demonstration with normal source and confidence disclosures.
Legislative Progress Interpretation: The legislative progress metrics are not ready for public grading. The current data show that most Government Spending bills have not moved beyond introduction or referral and have stale latest-action dates.
Accountability Attribution Interpretation: The role-aware accountability attribution layer is ready for internal review. It identifies sponsor/cosponsor credit separately from committee and floor leadership review, but does not assign individual leadership penalties yet.
Cost Snapshot: 2026-05-04T21:25:35Z. Loaded: C:\WEB\VoiceToCongress.com\40 - Top Issues\050 - Government Spending\40 - Metrics\App_Data\metrics_current.json
Progress Snapshot: 2026-05-04T21:25:35Z. As of: 2026-05-04. Loaded: C:\WEB\VoiceToCongress.com\40 - Top Issues\050 - Government Spending\40 - Metrics\App_Data\legislative_progress_current.json
Attribution Snapshot: 2026-05-04T21:25:35Z. Loaded: C:\WEB\VoiceToCongress.com\40 - Top Issues\050 - Government Spending\40 - Metrics\App_Data\government_spending_accountability_attribution_current.json

System Score Summary

Cost Confidence Score	75.5	Cost Grade	C	Cost Readiness	Public Demonstration Ready
Legislative Progress Score	34.3	Progress Grade	F	Progress Readiness	Not Ready
Attribution Readiness	Internal Review Ready	Sponsor Credit Records	268	Leadership Review Rate	100.0%
Bill Count	268	Fiscal Assessment Coverage	100.0%	Needs Review Rate	9.7%

Cost-Estimate Data Confidence

Metric	Current Value	Count	Meaning
Fiscal Assessment Coverage	100.0%	268 / 268	Percent of Government Spending bills with a fiscal assessment row.
Resolved Fiscal Classification Coverage	90.3%	242 / 268	Percent of bills where the fiscal classification is resolved and no longer in the review backlog.
Confirmed Official Estimate Coverage	0.0%	0 / 268	Percent of bills with official CBO/JCT/official cost-estimate metadata. Auto-classified bills are not counted here.
Usable Amount Data Coverage	83.6%	224 / 268	Percent of bills with usable amount data, fixed bill-text amounts, ranges, or amount classifications suitable for fiscal metrics.
Fiscal Impact Determination Coverage	85.4%	229 / 268	Percent of bills where the system has determined whether and how the bill affects spending, revenue, assets, administration, or fiscal exposure.
Needs Review Rate	9.7%	26 / 268	Percent of bills still requiring human review or additional automation.

Fiscal Classification Summary

Classification Area	Count	Use
Fiscal Significant Bills	225	Bills identified as having spending, revenue, asset, administrative, procurement, personnel, transfer, grant, open-ended, or other fiscal relevance.
Open-Ended Fiscal Exposure	46	Bills with open-ended or contingent fiscal authority, including language such as "such sums as are necessary". These are not treated as zero cost.
Fixed Bill-Text Amounts	28	Bills where a fixed dollar amount was detected in bill text near fiscal authorization or appropriation language.
Official Estimate Metadata	0	Bills where official CBO/JCT/official cost-estimate metadata was found. Dollar amount parsing from CBO documents is a separate future step.

Legislative Progress and Action Staleness

Metric	Current Value	Count	Meaning
Introduced or Referred	97.8%	262 / 268	Bills that have not moved beyond introduction or committee referral. This is normal early in a process, but weak evidence of legislative progress.
Advanced Bills	2.2%	1 committee activity, 5 reported, 0 passed one chamber	Bills with committee activity, committee reporting, chamber passage, or enactment. This is stronger evidence that Congress acted on the issue.
Stale or Dormant	100.0%	268 / 268	Bills with no recent meaningful action. This is a legislative accountability warning, not a cost estimate.
Became Law	0	0 / 268	Bills that completed the legislative process and became law.
Average Stage Score	19.8	0 to 100	Average progress stage score across the Government Spending bill universe.
Average Action Staleness Score	16.4	0 to 100	Average recency score. Lower values mean the bill universe is stale or dormant.

CBO Estimate Eligibility

CBO Status	Count	Rate	Meaning
Not Yet Expected	259	96.6%	No official CBO estimate has been found, but the bill appears to be introduced/referred only, so an estimate may not yet be expected.
Watch - Committee Activity	1	Information	The bill has some committee activity but no official CBO estimate metadata found yet.
Expected but Missing	5	1.9%	The bill appears advanced enough that a missing estimate is more concerning and should be reviewed.
Official Estimate Found	3	1.1%	Official CBO estimate metadata has been found.

Role-Aware Accountability Attribution

Attribution Area	Count	Use
Sponsor Initiative Credit	268	Sponsors receive credit for introducing or carrying a Government Spending bill. Lack of later movement should not automatically reduce the sponsor score.
Cosponsor Support Credit	189	Cosponsors receive support credit. The system should not automatically penalize cosponsors when committee or chamber leadership does not move the bill.
Committee Leadership Review Needed	263	Bills appear stalled before meaningful committee advancement. Committee jurisdiction, chair, ranking member, and referral data are needed before assigning individual responsibility.
Floor Leadership Review Needed	5	Bills appear reported or calendar-ready but have not received a chamber vote. Chamber leadership and floor scheduling data are needed before assigning individual responsibility.
CBO Gap Review Needed	5	Bills appear advanced enough that missing official CBO estimate metadata should be reviewed.
Leadership Review Rate	100.0%	Percent of bills requiring committee or floor leadership review before a fair member-level report card can assign responsibility.

What These Metrics Mean

Confirmed official estimate coverage is intentionally strict. It counts official cost-estimate metadata only. It does not count open-ended appropriations, fixed bill-text amounts, or automated fiscal classifications as CBO estimates.
Resolved fiscal classification coverage shows how much of the Government Spending bill universe has been classified well enough for internal metrics review.
Legislative progress is separate from fiscal impact. A bill can be fiscally significant but still have little or no legislative progress.
Stale or dormant status measures inaction. This is potentially important for future congressional report cards.
CBO estimate eligibility prevents the system from unfairly penalizing introduced-only or referred-only bills that may not normally have a CBO estimate yet.
Role-aware accountability attribution separates sponsor/cosponsor initiative credit from committee and chamber leadership review. It prevents the report card from punishing the wrong person when a bill stalls.

Suggested Public Disclosure

Government Spending fiscal classifications are internally review-ready. The metrics distinguish official cost estimates from automated fiscal classifications, and bills with open-ended fiscal exposure are not treated as zero cost. Legislative progress metrics show whether bills are advancing, stalled, stale, or awaiting review; this score should be treated as an accountability warning, not as a cost estimate. Role-aware attribution is now available for the current target set, so sponsor/cosponsor initiative can be separated from committee or chamber leadership review. Public grades should still disclose data confidence, official-estimate coverage, amount coverage, and attribution readiness.