The nonpartisan Urban Institute publishes studies, reports, and
books on timely topics worthy of public consideration. The views
expressed are those of the authors and should not be attributed
to the Urban Institute, its trustees, or its funders. The text
below is an excerpt from the complete document. Read the full
report in PDF format. A data appendix is also available. The
information in this report was summarized in an issue brief,
"Losing Ground: Federal Investments in Children Will Shrink Over
the Next Decade if Present Policies Continue." We chart U.S.
federal spending on investment in total and for children from
1965 to 2017. Five major categories can be considered—some more
so than others—to be investment or to have investment
components: education and research, work supports, social
supports, physical capital, and defense investment. Relative to
domestic spending, the most direct investment—education and
research—for the nation as a whole, and crucially for children,
fell over the 1970-2006 period t