3 ms·

All I want for this Christmass is an authoritative list of all US federal agencies. I kid you not, there is no such list and the number of federal agencies is u

All I want for this Christmass is an authoritative list of all US federal agencies. I kid you not, there is no such list and the number of federal agencies is uncertain. From Wikipedia: >Legislative definitions of a federal agency are varied, and even contradictory, and the official United States Government Manual offers no definition. While the Administrative Procedure Act definition of "agency" applies to most executive branch agencies, Congress may define an agency however it chooses in enabling legislation, and subsequent litigation, often involving the Freedom of Information Act and the Government in the Sunshine Act. These further cloud attempts to enumerate a list of agencies.

mehrdadn 8y ago
What do you mean by federal agency (given that the definition itself is unclear)?
acjohnson55 8y ago
That seems like the issue is that the answer varies with chosen semantics, not unavailability of information.
killjoywashere 8y ago
Check the budget. Bills.
showerst 8y ago
It’s not quite an official list due to the issue you mentioned but anything that realistically rounds up to an “agency” will publish notices or regulations in the federal register, and the fedreg API has an endpoint to get all agencies.
- Breza 8y ago
  That's a really clever idea!
PerryCox 8y ago
It seems like the solution here would be to have a government agency that counts how many government agencies there are. I believe that could be done with an executive order but correct me if I'm wrong.
philipashlock 8y ago
We're working on it, but it's not a data transparency problem, it's a governance problem
dandare 8y ago
Shameless plug: does anybody know where I could get detailed spending and receipts data for US federal budget? Including all federal agencies? There is very limited data at https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/supplemental-materials/ https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/supplemental-materials/ but I am looking for more detailed data.
- philipashlock 8y ago
  The main place to explore spending data is https://www.usaspending.gov/#/download_center/ https://www.usaspending.gov/#/download_center/ and https://datalab.usaspending.gov https://datalab.usaspending.gov Let me know what you can't find or request via https://www.data.gov/data-request/ https://www.data.gov/data-request/

mehrdadn 8y ago

What do you mean by federal agency (given that the definition itself is unclear)?

acjohnson55 8y ago

That seems like the issue is that the answer varies with chosen semantics, not unavailability of information.

killjoywashere 8y ago

Check the budget. Bills.

showerst 8y ago

It’s not quite an official list due to the issue you mentioned but anything that realistically rounds up to an “agency” will publish notices or regulations in the federal register, and the fedreg API has an endpoint to get all agencies.

Breza 8y ago
That's a really clever idea!

PerryCox 8y ago

It seems like the solution here would be to have a government agency that counts how many government agencies there are. I believe that could be done with an executive order but correct me if I'm wrong.

philipashlock 8y ago

We're working on it, but it's not a data transparency problem, it's a governance problem

dandare 8y ago

Shameless plug: does anybody know where I could get detailed spending and receipts data for US federal budget? Including all federal agencies? There is very limited data at https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/supplemental-materials/ https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/supplemental-materials/ but I am looking for more detailed data.

philipashlock 8y ago
The main place to explore spending data is https://www.usaspending.gov/#/download_center/ https://www.usaspending.gov/#/download_center/ and https://datalab.usaspending.gov https://datalab.usaspending.gov Let me know what you can't find or request via https://www.data.gov/data-request/ https://www.data.gov/data-request/