TOP DRAWER ARTICLE

Your Tax Dollars at Work
by
HL Carpenter

Ever wonder where your tax dollars are going? Part of your money is funding fifteen executive departments. Here are three, and the amounts allocated for their budgets, according to their respective web sites:

Department of Agriculture (USDA)

Overview: The USDA was founded in 1862 by President Lincoln. Programs handled by the department through twenty-three agencies include food stamps, school lunches, school breakfasts, and WIC.

The USDA also oversees national forests, conducts research into human nutrition and crop technologies, ensures open markets for US agricultural products and provides aid to needy people in foreign countries.

Funding: 2006 Proposed = approximately $95 billion

2005 Appropriated = approximately $95 billion

Department of Education (ED)

Overview: Created in 1980, ED’s fourteen agencies focus on education issues, distribute federal aid to educational facilities, and collect data on America’s schools.

Funding: 2006 Proposed = approximately $69 billion

2005 Appropriated = approximately $73 billion

Department of Homeland Security (DHS)

Overview: Created in 2002, DHS and the seventeen agencies under its direction are working to protect our nation from threats and hazards, safeguard our borders, and manage and co-ordinate a response, not only to acts of terrorism, but also natural disasters. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which became part of DHS in 2003, provides assistance for earthquakes, floods, hurricanes and other hazards.

Funding: 2006 Proposed = approximately $41 billion

2005 Appropriated = approximately $41 billion

Originally published July 2005.

Last update: January 8, 2011