A Closer Look at the Increasing Disbursement Expenditures of the U.S. House Office
Tax payers of the United States have become increasingly frustrated with politics. In recent years, spending by U.S. House of Representatives has doubled in certain categories, which has raised eyebrows of the common taxpayer. People have begun to question the need for such high funding of governmental officials that has supplied personal needs, travel, benefits, and more. Since 1964, the House of Representatives Office has been required to publish The Statement of Disbursements (SOD), which is a quarterly report of receipts and spending. With the increase in House Office expenditures, U.S. citizens have begun to want more information on the reasons behind the spending listed in the SOD.
After brief analysis of the data, there is convincing evidence that in recent years, the U.S. House Office has been spending more money. Through data visualizations using bar plots, I discovered that the categories “personnel compensation” and “personnel benefits” increased drastically from 2011 to 2022. Personnel compensation was trending steadily from 2011 to 2018, but beginning in 2019, the U.S. House Office has increased this disbursement category by over two-hundred million dollars. Now, someone could say it is due to the increase in inflation, but since 2018, the U.S. dollar has only increased in cumulative price by about 23.52%, whereas the House Office spending has increased by about 35.7%. This information should concern the common tax payer, since there has been an increase in House Office personnel compensation disbursements by over 10%, when accounting for inflation.
The data visualization above clearly shows a massive increase in spending in recent years. The issue is, there has been little to no explanation for the rapid increase in expenditures beginning in 2019. The visualization illustrates that the categories “Supplies and Materials,” “Rent Communication Utilities,” and “Equipment” have nearly stayed at the same level for eleven years, but there has been a major increase in the other top categories. These three categories have experienced minimal change, which is concerning because if the increase in inflation had no impact on them, it raises questions on why the other categories saw such a rapid increase.
It is important to question why there has been an increase in specific categories regarding disbursements. The top spending purpose in personnel compensation between 2011 and 2022 was associated with the U.S. House Office’s Chief of Staff, Legislative Assistant, District Director, and Legislative Director. During this time period, the spending of disbursement increased as follows: Chief of Staff increased by $17.4 million dollars, Legislative Assistant increased by $4.8 million dollars, District Director increase by $9.4 million dollars, and Legislative Director increased by $7.8 million dollars. These numbers show the drastic increase in the personnel compensation in many positions in the House Office with no explanation why. This is one of many instances where U.S. taxpayer money is being increasingly spent in the millions of dollars in just over ten years.
Furthermore, the difference in payees between the Democratic and Republican parties could be a potential reason for an increase in disbursement spending. The U.S. is a two-sided country and easily blames one side to scapegoat problems, so I decided to analyze the top payees in the 2011 to 2022 time period to see if there was a potential party to blame for high disbursement spending. Further research into the payees revealed that the highest-paid payee was William D. Smith, an affiliate of the Republican Party, but the remaining four payees are associated with the Democratic Party. The data spans a period dominated with the Democratic Party in the White House, which is likely the reason for a high spending in payee disbursements to Democrats. The reason for bringing attention to this, is to question if there is a possible party to blame for the increase in disbursement expenditures.
The increase in disbursements in the U.S. House Office has created a concern among the common taxpayer. Even with the publication of The Statement of Disbursements, there continues to be questioning from the public due to the doubling of expenditures in certain categories. Through research of the House Office disbursements, there is strong evidence that there are substantial increases mainly in the categories personnel compensation and personnel benefits, while supplies and materials, rent communication utilities, and equipment have remained consistent. The lack of reasoning of the increase in disbursements is concerning even after considering inflation. Lastly, the differences in disbursement patterns between the Democratic and Republican parties, highlights that there could be a connection indicating that the party in office is the decider in the spending of disbursements.
References:
Inflation Calculator: https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/2018?amount=1
Details on Disbursements: https://www.house.gov/the-house-explained/open-government/statement-of-disbursements/details#:~:text=The%20House%20receives%20an%20appropriation,funding%20on%20an%20FY%20basis.
