Budget Matters Blog

Entries By Chris Hellman


Chairman Ryan’s Budget: More of Less

This week the House of Representatives will likely consider the fiscal year 2013 budget resolution, introduced by Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI), chairman of the House Budget Committee. Similar to last year’s budget resolution, Chairman Ryan’s proposal looks to cut the overall size of the federal budget and reduce the deficit ...


Budget Process Update: Where Are We Now?

The president submitted his fiscal year 2013 budget request to Congress on Feb. 13. Earlier this week, Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI), chairman of the House Budget Committee, unveiled his draft budget resolution. The role of the annual budget resolution is to set the overall spending limits that appropriators will use ...


You Ask, We Answer: How Much Do We Spend On Intelligence?

Nancy Albert, of San Juan, Puerto Rico asks how much do we spend on the CIA, and where in the budget would you find that money?The short answer is, we don't know. Now here's the longer answer, which includes what we do know about what the government spends on intelligence, ...


Priority Number Two: Cut Spending

In a recent blog my colleague Mattea noted that a February poll by the Hill of likely voters found that the top priority for 45 percent of respondents was "job creation." In close second, with 40 percent, was "cutting spending." Support for cutting government spending is certainly the result of ...

Analysis of Fiscal Year 2013 Pentagon Spending Request

On February 14, 2012 the Obama Administration released its proposed Fiscal Year 2013 budget for the federal government. The request includes $525.4 billion for the Department of Defense (DoD) in Fiscal Year 2013, which begins on October 1, 2012. Adjusted for inflation, this is 2.6 percent below FY2012 levels, the ...

Budget Brief - Cost of War

Senior research analyst Chris Hellman examines the cost of war up to this point, and looks at what will be changing in the next few years.    

Tracking the Cost of War

Since the U.S. invasion of Iraq, National Priorities Project has tracked the costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Recent events including the end of U.S. combat operations in Iraq and the winding down of the troop “surge” in Afghanistan have led to the question – what’s going to ...


The Pentagon Budget is Going Down. Sort of.

Last week Defense Secretary Leon Panetta offered up a preview of the Pentagon’s Fiscal Year 2013 budget request. The request for FY2013 is projected at $525 billion for the Pentagon’s annual “base” budget, not including war costs and the nuclear weapons-related activities of the Department of Energy.Adjusted for inflation this ...

The Pentagon’s New Blueprint

On January 5 Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army General Martin E. Dempsey – joined by President Obama in a rare visit to the Pentagon – rolled out the military’s new strategic plan.Secretary Panetta and General Dempsey’s briefing provided a modest amount of ...

Did You Miss the “’Bus?”

Congress has passed a budget for Fiscal Year 2012. Did you miss it?If you did, that’s understandable, given all the noise coming out of Washington in recent weeks about extending the Social Security payroll tax holiday and unemployment benefits for the long-term unemployed.But Congress actually did pass an FY2012 budget, ...