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Archives refreshed Aug 7, 2026

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Reference

Data dictionary

A human field guide to the product archives The Ledger renders. Use it with the data cache and tools guide. This is not a live query API or a machine JSON Schema server.

Products

  • State federal balance
  • Revenue, Congress budget, agencies
  • Floor bills (issues)
  • Gavel cases and justices
  • Desk presidencies and actions
  • Race candidates, seats, donors

The Books

State federal balance

Multi-year state ledger of federal revenue and spending used for rankings, map, politics, and compare.

Download: /downloads/books/federal-balance.json

types/federal-balance.ts · StateFederalBalance, DatasetMeta

FieldMeaning
years[YYYY].states[]One state row per fiscal data year.
state / abbreviationDisplay name and two-letter code.
federalRevenue / federalSpendingPrimary OSC-derived dollar totals for the year.
populationPopulation used for per-capita views.
dataYearArchived fiscal data year for the row.
metaPublisher, report title, access date, placeholder flag.

The Books

Revenue, Congress budget, agencies

National receipt composition, CBO budget tables, and USAspending agency profiles / awards.

Download: /downloads/books/revenue.json

types/flow-data.ts · RevenueDataset, CongressDataset, AgenciesDataset

FieldMeaning
revenue.jsonMTS-style receipt rollups and composition views.
congress.jsonCBO historical / baseline budget series and revenue detail.
agencies.json profiles[]Agency slug, name, and award/outlay context.
agencies.json awards / outlaysObligation or outlay tables tied to profiles when present.

The Floor

Floor bills (issues)

Featured full-detail bills plus congress inventory (issues-inventory.json) for atlas mode.

Download: /downloads/floor/issues.json

types/issues.ts · IssueBill, IssuesDataset

FieldMeaning
issues[]Featured full-detail bills in issues.json.
issues-inventory.jsonSlim Congress.gov list rows for covered congresses.
featured / detailLevelStart-here overlay vs index-only inventory row.
congress / billType / billNumberCongress.gov identity (e.g. hr 1).
stages[] / currentStagePipeline progress (full detail on Featured).
houseVotes[] / senateVotes[]Roll calls on Featured bills when archived.
meta.coverageMode / inventoryCountAtlas inventory coverage fields.

The Gavel

Gavel cases and justices

Merits-focused SCOTUS archive: cases, opinion clusters, arguments, and justice credits.

Download: /downloads/gavel/gavel.json

types/gavel.ts · GavelCase, GavelJustice, GavelDataset

FieldMeaning
cases[]Merits cases with slug, docket number, term, and status.
caseName / labelCourt and display names.
opinions[] / arguments[]Opinion clusters and argument metadata when archived.
justices[]Sitting justice records with authored / joined counts.
citations[]Reporter citations when available.

The Desk

Desk presidencies and actions

Administrations, Featured actions, and FR PRESDOCU inventory (desk-actions-inventory.json).

Download: /downloads/desk/desk.json

types/desk.ts · DeskPresidency, DeskAction, DeskDataset

FieldMeaning
presidencies[]Ordinal administration spine with party and term dates.
actions[]Featured EO / proclamation / memorandum rows in desk.json.
desk-actions-inventory.jsonFR PRESDOCU inventory for modern admins.
featured / detailLevelStart-here overlay vs index-only inventory row.
kind / documentNumberInstrument type and FR-style document id when known.
presidencySlugJoin key from action to administration.
meta.coverageMode / inventoryCountAtlas inventory coverage fields.

The Race

Race candidates, seats, donors

Federal election finance and popular-vote archives for President, Senate, and House. Served via API because the file is large.

Download: /api/downloads/race

types/race.ts · RaceCandidate, RaceSeat, RaceDonorEntity, RaceDataset

FieldMeaning
cycles[]Election cycles present in the archive.
candidates[]Candidate finance rows with office, state, cycle, FEC id.
totalsReceipts, disbursements, optional cash-on-hand.
result / primaryResultPopular-vote attachments when a source matched.
seats[]Seat labels for P/S/H contests.
donors[]Committee (and related) donor entities with recipients.

For counting rules and caveats, read methodology. For reuse and attribution, read usage. Agents should start at /llms.txt.

Field names can evolve when archives are rebuilt. Prefer the live JSON shape and methodology notes over this summary when they disagree.