We just discovered that the book-sharing site GoodReads has some great discussion about A People's Guide to the Federal Budget. Wrote a young person by the name of Chris Byron: This is the type of book that puts college text books to shame. Studying the federal budget, the tax system, tax rates, could take three-four months and require testing. Or, from now on, the reader can buy this book.

Last week I went to Madison, Wisconsin, to talk with students at the U.S. Students Association national conference. The USSA has a simple, powerful slogan: "Education is a right." I had the chance to talk with a small group of students about the federal budget. It was a 90 degree afternoon and these young people had been up until 4 o'clock in the morning in a legislative session, but that didn't stop them from pulling out their notebooks and asking for information about how Washington spends our tax dollars.

Our latest dataset is Title I Education Grants. See how much your state and county received from this federal program to help improve teaching and learning in high-poverty schools.

On July 31 Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) announced that they had reached an agreement on a temporary spending bill – known as a “continuing resolution” (CR) – that will fund government operations for six months starting when the new fiscal year begins ...

Bob Dylan once said, "Money don't talk, it swears!" While it's easy to curse the budgetary decisions made by lawmakers, we often don’t realize how incredibly complicated the process is. I've been reading A People's Guide to the Federal Budget...

NPP’s new report “The Untold Story of Deficits in Washington” has sparked a LOT of questions about federal revenues – the “budwonk” word for “taxes” – especially this one: “Is it true that half of all Americans pay no federal taxes?”Here’s the deal. Because many people don’t earn enough to ...

Have you ever felt confused when hearing about the federal budget? Do you feel that the frequent debates in Washington about deficit and spending are complex, and you wish you understood them? Then A People’s Guide to the Federal Budget is the book for you. The book is written in very simple language, making it accessible for the average reader with absolutely no previous knowledge of the federal budget.

The week of July 16 was a big one in Washington for Pentagon watchers. The House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to approve the fiscal year 2013 Defense Appropriations bill, while the House Armed Services Committee held hearings on the potential impact of upcoming spending cuts on the Pentagon’s budget.The FY2013 ...

If we want to have a say in how our tax dollars are spent, we need to have a say in who represents us. Fortunately, we do have a say in who represents us – in theory, at least. In practice, a majority of Americans of voting age don’t have any role in determining their representation. According to the Census Bureau, just 37 percent of eligible voters actually voted in the 2010 midterm elections. Frankly, that stinks.

Last week President Obama affirmed his support for letting the Bush-era tax cuts expire for American families making over $250,000. There was a flurry of activity on our Facebook page as folks debated the merits of extending all the tax cuts versus allowing them to expire for upper-income taxpayers. And there were lots of questions and some confusion over who benefits from these tax cuts.