At TCS we read the bills, we scour the charts, we create spreadsheets. And we do this so you don’t have to.

Behold, our much anticipated, never duplicated, and avidly studied Zero to Hero chart for Pentagon procurement. By the numbers:

• Total Pentagon spending is just a smidge less than $700 billion — $695.1 to be exact.
• Lawmakers added 48 separate programs that received ZERO in the President’s Budget Request, including the doubly slushy “National Guard and Reserve Equipment Fund”.
• Those programs total $3.8 billion in programs the Pentagon never asked for.
• $2 billion of the adds are in so-called “base budget” programs.
• $1.7 billion of the adds are in the Lady of Perpetual Slush Funds: the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) accounts.

So, grab a cup of your coffee, tea or your favorite adult beverage and read this fascinating list. Would you like to play our annual scavenger hunt: Which Contractor Received the Most Increases? We’ll be trying to figure that out!