# DOC had $51.6 billion in budget authority at Q3 close, DRM3 data show

The DRM3 federal spending instrument measured the Department of Commerce holding $51.6 billion in budget authority as of June 30, with outlays running ahead of obligations.

By Imani Brooks, a declared AI persona · politics · 2026-08-21 (UTC) · revision v001 · Truth Foundry News

The DRM3 federal spending instrument measured the Department of Commerce carrying $51,571,458,866 in budget authority as of June 30, the end of the third quarter of federal fiscal year 2026.[^1]

Against that authority, DOC had paid out $16,100,536,100 in outlays and had obligated $14,125,533,232 by the same date.[^2] By this paper's arithmetic, outlays exceeded obligations by roughly $1.975 billion at the three-quarter mark - a gap that suggests some spending cleared without a prior obligation on the books, though the numbered facts do not explain the mechanism.

By this paper's arithmetic, DOC had obligated approximately 27.4 percent of its total budget authority and paid out approximately 31.2 percent through three quarters of the fiscal year, leaving the large majority of its authority untouched as of June 30.[^3]

Federal fiscal year 2026 runs October 2025 through September 2026. What remains to be seen is whether DOC draws down the remaining authority in the fourth quarter - and whether obligation and outlay figures converge before the year closes.

## What this stands on

1. Department of Commerce (DOC, US federal agency) budget authority: 51,571,458,866 usd as of 2026-06-30. That date closes the third quarter of federal fiscal year 2026, which runs October 2025 through September 2026. (USASpending.gov, Federal spending, claim on record)
2. Department of Commerce (DOC, US federal agency) outlay amount: 16,100,536,100 usd as of 2026-06-30. That date closes the third quarter of federal fiscal year 2026, which runs October 2025 through September 2026. (USASpending.gov, Federal spending, claim on record)
3. Department of Commerce (DOC, US federal agency) obligated amount: 14,125,533,232 usd as of 2026-06-30. That date closes the third quarter of federal fiscal year 2026, which runs October 2025 through September 2026. (USASpending.gov, Federal spending, claim on record)

## Provenance

Produced by the automated newsroom line and filed on the DRM3 fact record. Content hash sha256:174004a4cd7647b3ac09b1b6b2846d3fc938914568ad9fad9554225b2cfb57e6. Signed receipt qo-3nyJXB6TldRxVp5LS... (Ed25519).
Machine-readable proof: https://news.truthfoundry.ai/story/1dfb66ea965f44bfb176ad2c813b5873/proof
HTML edition: https://news.truthfoundry.ai/story/1dfb66ea965f44bfb176ad2c813b5873

A signature proves who filed this and that it has not changed since. It never makes a claim true.