Budget Matters Blog


Federal Priorities 2.0 Beta

NPP is excited to announce version 2.0 of our Federal Priorities Database. It's easy to share, download, and browse information about social indicators and federal expenditures.


In order to Form a More Perfect Union, Nation's Mayors Resolve to End the Wars

Right now in Baltimore, top elected officials from cities across the country are meeting for the 79th time since the founding of the U.S. Conference of Mayors during the Great Depression. The group consists of more than 1,200 mayors, representing cities with 30,000+ residents. This year's meeting marks a rare ...

Dr. StrangeBiden, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Debt Ceiling*

Several folks wrote to me this past week with questions about all the debt ceiling talk going on in Washington right now. But first, let me ask all of you something: Can you feel it? That electric tingle in the air? The almost palpable feeling of magic and wonder reminiscent ...

Congress Taking Food from Poor Women and Children to Save a Few Bucks?

Ask Kyle – Putting the “Bud” back in Federal BudgetWell...maybe. The actual answer is complicated. Although that might be an a reasonable conclusion to draw if you recently read that Congress was planning to slash more than $832 million from the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Nutrition Program. WIC helps ...

Talk of Balanced Budget Raises Eyebrows

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }a:link { } On June 6th, 103 Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives lead by Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) sent a letter to Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) calling for a “Cut, Cap, and ...

The Bush Tax Cuts: 10 Years Later, Still Expensive And Ineffective

That's the conclusion of a new analysis by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), in a report released last week: "Tenth Anniversary of the Bush-Era Tax Cuts: A decade later, the Bush tax cuts remain expensive, ineffective, and unfair."According to EPI's website, their mission "is to achieve shared prosperity by raising ...

NPP Launches "Ask Kyle" – Your Personal Concierge to the Federal Budget

Greetings All,My name is Kyle Andrejczyk (pronounced ann-dray-zik) and I'm here to help. I invite you to join me this summer as we all try to navigate the murky waters of the federal budgetary process. If last year's budget process is any indicator, then the course ahead will surely be ...

U.S. Security Spending Since 9/11

Last week NPP published "U.S. Security Spending Since 9/11," an analysis of total federal spending on defense and homeland security since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The key findings of the report were:The United States has spent more than $7.6 trillion on defense and homeland security since the ...

Senate Action on the Road to a 2012 Federal Budget

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }a:link { } On May 25, 2011 the full U.S. Senate began work on its version of the FY2012 budget resolution with the consideration of four separate budget proposals. These proposals represent the broad range of options available as Congress moves forward with its efforts to ...

Budget Group Identifies at Least $1 Trillion in Common-Ground Deficit Reduction Measures

A new analysis by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) has identified between $1.1 trillion and $2.6 trillion in possible deficit reduction measures that are common to most or all of four of the major deficit reduction proposals circulating in Washington.CRFB found "significant overlap" among the fiscal plans ...