In the first episode of The Human Government, our host takes us down the first rabbit hole of research on how the US government is funded. Starting first with the first search term of "how government funding works" we fall down the winding path of questions related to categories of funding, the duties of the legislative and executive branches in creating a spending bill, and where we are currently at the end of September 2025.

This episode was recorded in the early morning of September 25, 2025 but was not published until October 1, 2025. It was edited for length (and to remove the hosts side quest comments). Below, listeners can find links to all of the websites the host navigated to during this research rabbit hole.

What other research rabbit holes would you like to dive into on The Human Government? Be sure to let us know so we can research the topics you are most interested in.

Sources of information:

The Federal Budget Process (USA.gov)

https://www.usa.gov/federal-budget-process

What to know about Government Spending (Enlisted Association of the National Guard of the United States EANGUS.org - published June 17, 2024)

https://eangus.org/what-to-know-about-government-spending/

Discretionary Spending in Fiscal Year 2024: An Infographic (Congressional Budget Office CBO.gov - Published March 20, 2025)

https://www.cbo.gov/publication/61184

Major Discretionary Funding Changes (WhiteHouse.gov - Published May 2, 2025)

https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Fiscal-Year-2026-Discretionary-Budget-Request.pdf

What is a Continuing Resolution and How Does It Impact Government Operations? (U.S. Government Accountability Office GAO.gov - published November 3, 2022)

https://www.gao.gov/blog/what-continuing-resolution-and-how-does-it-impact-government-operations

Government Shutdowns Q&A: Everything You Should Know (Committee for a responsible federal budget CRFB.org - published September 16, 2025)

https://www.crfb.org/papers/government-shutdowns-qa-everything-you-should-know