Federal government spending is soaring and debt will soon reach record highs compared to the size of the economy. Rising spending and debt are undermining growth and may push the nation into a financial crisis.

As the federal government’s size has expanded, the scope of its activities has also grown. The government subsidizes farming, health care, school lunches, broadband, rural utilities, energy, rental housing, aviation, passenger rail, public broadcasting, chip manufacturing, job training, foreign aid, education, urban transit, space exploration, and hundreds of other activities.

For decades, the government has published an official list of all its grant or subsidy programs for the states, businesses, nonprofits, and individuals. The list used to be called the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance but is now called Assistance Listings. The list is a rough indicator of the steadily expanding scope of federal interventions.