April 2014 Blog Archives


Government Spending, The DATA Act, and the End of Yada Yada

Congress authorizes spending and yada yada yada, Treasury cuts checks. The DATA Act says we can do better when it comes to tracking government spending.


NPP Board Chair Announces Leadership Transition

Jo Comerford, NPP's executive director since 2008, will step down from her role at the end of May. She will be succeeded by Douglas J. Hall, Ph.D., the current director of the Economic Analysis and Research Network (EARN) at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. The Chair of NPP's Board of Directors, Dennis Bidwell, shares the news.


NPP's Work: Spotlight on Transparency and Data

Last month we re-launched a major portion of our website, organizing our federal budget research content into eight issue areas. This week, we bring you key highlights on NPP's work to make the federal budget more transparent.


Abandonment of the American Student

Spending cuts to public universities shifts the burden of providing higher education to family bank accounts, despite documented stagnation in median family income.


NPP's Work: Spotlight on Federal Education Spending

Last month we re-launched a major portion of our website, organizing our federal budget research content into eight issue areas. This week, we bring you key highlights on federal education spending.


Farewell, Mattea

NPP says goodbye to Research Director Mattea Kramer.


Millennial Perspective: Title X is Vital, Efficient, and Largely Unknown

While many Americans probably haven’t heard of Title X, it plays an integral role in our public health system, particularly for low-income and uninsured patients.


Loopholes: The Avenue To Our Regressive Tax Code

Seemingly, corporations and the most wealthy have found a way to pay taxes on a regressive scale (the more you earn, the smaller percentage paid) within a progressive structure. But how?


Tax Day 2014: GE's Tax Loopholes and Unemployment Benefits

This year's Tax Day brings startling numbers about how tax loopholes allowed General Electric to avoid paying billions in taxes.


72,000 Unemployed Workers Lose Benefits Every Week Congress Does Not Act

Last week marked three full months that Congress has let long-term unemployment benefits lapse, leaving 2.3 million unemployed workers – who have been unemployed for 6 months or more and have exhausted regular, state benefits – without assistance.  And each week that passes, an additional 72,000 people lose benefits.