Spending Explorer Question: What does this tool do? Why should I use it?

The Spending Explorer can help you develop a better understanding of how the components of federal spending are related, building your context of the federal-spending landscape. You can see the data presented from three distinct angles (or paths), which you can navigate according to your interests. These predefined paths start at three high-level categories: Budget Function (purpose), Agency, and Object Class (types of items and services). We developed these paths based on user research — our users let us know that these frameworks are the ones that are most useful to them. That said, within each path, you can skip levels to find the data slices that most interest you; skip levels by using the drop-down menu at the top of the treemap. If you have recommendations for new ways to explore federal spending data, please share them with us!