D-0001
Baseline trend window
The baseline window is FY2015 to present for budget and operations data, with longer baselines where official series begin earlier, such as suicide or homelessness.
Audit 002
Decision Log
The Decision Log is the audit’s reproducibility spine. It records methodology choices, source exclusions, definition rulings, data conflicts, scope limits, and gate decisions.
D-0001 through D-0043
Forty-three methodological rulings, ending in source-gate clearance.
The log matters because it shows the audit system constraining the author. The source gate did not clear on assertion. It cleared only after the authoritative manifest satisfied the archive rules.
Key public rulings
D-0006
Toxic Exposures Fund treated as distinct stream
PACT Act and TEF trend lines must be shown both merged and unmerged, each labeled, because the funding structure changes the interpretation of VA growth.
D-0012
Suicide statistics must pair count and rate
Neither veteran-suicide count nor rate may be reported alone where the changing veteran population affects interpretation.
D-0022
Historical-growth passage quarantined
A CRS historical-growth passage contains an apparent internal inconsistency. The affected trend passage may not be cited until verified against the official PDF; unaffected table figures remain usable.
D-0032
Press-mediated and dual-basis rules
Figures or quotations that entered through press coverage carry visible flags. TEF decomposition must present act-provided and availability bases rather than single-basis headlines.
Source-gate refusal record
D-0039
Attestation was not enough
The author attested completion of the archive session, but the authoritative record still showed pending rows. The source gate stayed blocked because an assertion is not a record.
D-0040
Partial ingestion found defects
The completed manifest validated most captures, but duplicate-hash and canonical-URL defects prevented auto-promotion.
D-0041
Regression rejected
A corrected package would have erased validated archive status by replacing it with pending rows. The no-weakening rule rejected it.
D-0042
Artifact governed over attestation
A tag and dashboard narrative were treated as process evidence, not archive evidence. The file itself still carried defects.
D-0043
Source gate cleared
The resubmitted authoritative manifest validated cleanly: 42 archived, 1 terminal attempted failure, zero pending rows, zero duplicate hashes, zero duplicate canonicals, and zero malformed archived rows. Mechanical recommendation: ready with explicit limitations.
Next build step
The full unabridged D-0001 through D-0043 log should be exposed as a downloadable artifact and, later, as individual decision pages. This public summary establishes the credibility spine first.