Budget Matters Blog


Veterans and the Cost of War

Since the U.S. invasion of Iraq in March 2003, National Priorities Project has tracked the costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have focused on the tax dollars expended related to the conduct of these wars, and offered comparisons to funding for other government programs to demonstrate the ...


Accounting for War

The last U.S. combat forces were withdrawn from Iraq on Dec. 15, 2011. And this past week at the NATO summit in Chicago, member nations endorsed President Obama’s plan to remove most foreign combat troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2014.Yet the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq and ...


You Ask, We Answer: Funding Veterans, Plus the Military

Tom from St. Paul, Minnesota, wrote in to ask why our federal budget numbers don't combine funding for veterans with military spending, since they're both part of a larger national security category.


Updated Data: SNAP (Food Stamps)

SNAP participation and monthly benefits data are now current through fiscal year 2011.


Updated Data: TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families)

TANF individual and family participation numbers are now current through fiscal year 2011.


Why the Senate Won’t Pass a Budget

This week the U.S. Senate will consider a series of amendments to the budget resolution. A budget resolution sets out spending and revenue guidelines for Congress’s annual appropriations process.Except that the Senate won’t pass a budget resolution this year. To Hill watchers, this isn’t too surprising – the media is ...


Updated Data: School Meals

School breakfast, school lunch, and summer lunch participation numbers are now current through fiscal year 2011.


Knowledge Is Power (And You Don’t Have to Take My Word for It)

This week we announced the release of our new book A People’s Guide to the Federal Budget, and in yesterday’s blog post we admitted to being idealists: A book can change the world, we said. But it’s not just because we’re idealists that we think so. Consider the evidence.


A People's Guide to the Federal Budget

National Priorities Project is thrilled to announce the release of our new book, A People's Guide to the Federal Budget. Call us idealists, but we at NPP believe that a little information goes a long way, and that a book can change history. Washington belongs to the people, and this book is the federal budget for the rest of us.


American Community Survey Under Attack

Today the House of Representatives passed H.R. 5326, the appropriations bill for the Departments of Commerce and Justice, NASA, and other related agencies.H.R. 5326 includes an amendment that would prohibit the Department of Commerce from funding the American Community Survey (ACS), a yearly household survey conducted by the Census Bureau. ...