The United States federal government chartered and owned corporations operate to provide public services. Unlike government agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, or independent commissions, such as the Federal Communications Commission, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and others, they have a separate legal personality from the federal government. This gives them a higher level of political independence. Some receive federal budgetary appropriations, while some have independent sources of revenue.
Federal-government-acquired corporations
Federal-government-acquired corporations' are a separate set of corporations that were originally chartered and created by an entity other than the U.S. federal government, but that were, at some point, nationalized by the federal government. Most of these are corporations temporarily in possession of the government as a result of a seizure of property of a debtor to the government, such as a delinquent taxpayer; usually, these are awaiting liquidation at auction, and most are too small to note. However, there are also corporations that the federal government has nationalized to ensure the continued provision of an essential service or services, such as the federal government's nationalization of the Alaska Northern Railroad in 1914 and Tanana Valley Railroad in 1917, now both part of the Alaska Railroad, which remained federally owned until being sold to the state of Alaska in 1985, and, on a larger scale, the nationalization of all U.S. railroads from 1917 to 1920 under the United States Railroad Administration, and nationalization of the northeastern freight railroads under Conrail in 1976. In 2025, the United States agreed to buy a 10% stake in Intel.[1]
List of partially or wholly federally owned enterprises
- Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC)[2]
- Community Development Financial Institutions Fund[3]
- Corporation for National and Community Service (AmeriCorps)[3]
- Export-Import Bank of the United States[4]
- Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation[5]
Other types in the United States
States and local governments
There exists a second level of sovereign government in the United States which coexists with the federal government: the individual states of the United States. The vast majority of non-governmental corporations in the United States are chartered by the states of the United States. This includes most charitable corporations, non-profit corporations, and for-profit corporations. States also have the power to charter corporations that they own, control, or are responsible for the regulation and finance of. These include municipal corporations and state chartered and owned corporations. State government-chartered and -owned corporations are numerous and provide public services. Examples include North Dakota Mill and Elevator and South Dakota Public Broadcasting. Generally speaking, a statute passed by a state legislature specifically sets up a government-owned company in order to undertake a specific public purpose with public funds or public property. Lotteries in the United States are also run by government corporations, such as the Georgia Lottery Corporation and many others.
Tribal governments
There also exists a third level of
Further reading
- Note: This may be a different document than the one cited above.
References
- What a stake in Intel could mean for U.S. taxpayers now and in the future NBC News, 2025-08-26, retrieved 2025-08-28^
- Profiles of Existing Government Corporations, pp. 18, 24^
- 31 USC Ch. 91: GOVERNMENT CORPORATIONS uscode.house.gov^