NPP's research team live-tweeted and fact-checked the first debate of the 2012 Presidential Election. If you missed, here are our top 5 tweets.

This election season has put a lot of focus on Medicare, the federal health insurance program for the elderly. There’s been less emphasis on Medicaid, the health program for low-income Americans, though both President Obama and Governor Romney would dramatically change Medicaid. Currently Medicaid serves mainly children and those senior citizens who require long-term care.

I used to be oblivious to the inner workings of my pay stub, and how the taxes I pay are used by the federal government. As a recent high school graduate, working two jobs and preparing for college, reading A People’s Guide to the Federal Budget has been a real eye-opener. As I prepare to vote for the first time this fall, and enter into college as a political science major, I am more aware of how seemingly concrete numbers can be twisted around to aid different points of view.

This fall we're launching the incredible stories of Americans across the country in a project called Faces of the Budget. National Priorities Project has been gathering the stories of every-day people and how they've been affected by the spending and tax policies of the federal budget. Since all of us ...

Last week, on the heels of the Republican convention, my colleague Chris Hellman wrote here about the Republican Party platform and its implications for the federal budget. With the Democratic convention in Charlotte behind us, let's check out the Democratic platform approved by the party last week.

This election season, National Priorities Project is launching a suite of materials to arm voters with crucial information about what's at stake in November. And part of being informed is knowing what questions to ask candidates. Here are the top six things to ask your congressional candidates about where they ...

If there was ever any doubt that the U.S. federal budget would claim center-stage in the 2012 presidential race, it vanished with Mitt Romney's selection of House Budget Chair Paul Ryan (R-WI) as the GOP Vice Presidential nominee. Although Mitt Romney has emphasized he will run on a Romney budget, ...

Unemployment rose sharply following the start of the Great Recession in 2007. At the same time, enrollment in Medicaid increased as Americans who were hard-hit in the economic downturn qualified for the health insurance program for low-income Americans. Medicaid enrollment rose from 16.6 percent of the under-65 population in 2007 to 20.6 percent in 2010.

Since the Supreme Court ruled on the Affordable Care Act – also known as Obamacare – there have been lots of questions about Medicaid: How it's funded, what the Supreme Court decision meant, and what's going to change now. While the Supreme Court upheld most of the Affordable Care Act, it struck down a part of the law pertaining to states' participation in expanding Medicaid eligibility. The Court ruled that Congress cannot hold hostage existing Medicaid funding in order to compel states to comply with the expansion. If you find this a little confusing, you're not alone.

Karen from Colorado asks us, “What’s a block grant?” She said she’s been hearing that phrase a lot without knowing what it means – or if it’s important. It’s a great question, Karen, because block grants are important. They’re part of the reason a group of nuns recently began the Nuns on the Bus cross-country tour.