gov.house treats every article as a file in a public record. This page explains how files are numbered, how the Tracker works, where our facts come from and how we handle numbers, so that anyone can follow and check the work.
§1File numbers
Each article carries a file number in the form YY-####. The first two digits are the year of publication; the four digits after the hyphen are a sequential number assigned in order of publication within that year. For example, 26-0001 would be the first file published in 2026.
File numbers are permanent. A file keeps its number when it is updated or corrected, so citations stay valid. Policy pages such as this one carry their own document numbers in the GH-POL series.
§2The Tracker
The Tracker follows a small number of live government actions: bills, rules, court cases and scheduled decisions. Each item shows:
- an identifier, such as a bill number, docket or case number, or release number, with the responsible body;
- the stages the action must pass through, for example proposed, comment period, final rule and effective for a regulation, or filed, briefing, argument, decision and appeal for a court case; and
- the current stage and a short status label, such as the next deadline.
Items marked in red are final or urgent: the action has reached its decisive stage, or a deadline that matters to readers is close. Stages are defined by the formal process, not by our view of what is likely, and are updated when the official record changes.
§3Sourcing hierarchy
We rank sources in this order and use the highest available:
- Primary documents: statutes and bill text (congress.gov), the Federal Register, court filings and opinions, and agency publications from the Federal Reserve, Treasury, CBO, BLS, BEA, Census, the SEC and other regulators.
- Official statements: press releases, testimony, transcripts and on-the-record remarks by officials.
- Nonpartisan analysis: for example the Congressional Research Service and CBO cost estimates.
- Reputable news reporting, attributed by name, used mainly for events not yet reflected in documents.
Every file lists its source documents. Where a fact cannot be verified, we leave it out or say who is making the claim.
§4How numbers are computed
Economic figures can be stated in several ways, and the choice changes the story. We say which one we are using.
- Year-over-year change compares a month or quarter with the same period a year earlier. It is the standard headline for inflation (CPI, PCE).
- Annualized rates show what a monthly or quarterly change would amount to over a full year. GDP growth is reported by BEA as a seasonally adjusted annual rate, so a 0.5% quarterly gain is roughly 2% annualized. We do not compare annualized figures with year-over-year figures without saying so.
- Seasonally adjusted data remove regular calendar patterns, such as holiday hiring. We use seasonally adjusted series for month-to-month comparisons and say when we use unadjusted data.
- Nominal figures are in current dollars. Real figures are adjusted for inflation, and we name the price index used. Budget figures are nominal unless stated, and are often also shown as a share of GDP.
- Revisions. Agencies revise data, especially payrolls and GDP. We cite the vintage we used, and note later revisions as updates.
- Fiscal years for the federal government run from October 1 to September 30. FY2027 began on October 1, 2026.
Charts and tables state the source agency and series on their face. Where we compute a figure ourselves, such as a percentage change, we use the official published values and round only at the end.
§5Time zone
All times on gov.house are Eastern Time (ET), the time zone of Washington, D.C., where most of the releases and decisions we cover are scheduled. This applies to publication and update timestamps, Tracker deadlines and release times, even though the editor works from Central Europe.
§6Update practice
Every file shows a published timestamp and, if changed, an updated timestamp. When a story develops, we update the existing file where it remains the right place for the information, and add a short note describing what changed. When a development deserves its own treatment, we publish a new file and link the two.
Errors are handled under our Corrections Policy. The principles behind our sourcing and labels are set out in Ethics & Standards.