When asked if they support cutting certain types of federal spending, many Americans say they'd like to see the U.S. reduce the amount of aid we give to foreign countries. So it's worth knowing: How much does our federal government currently spend on foreign aid?

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 ...

President Obama was in Columbus, OH this week, talking about funding for education. Just by coincidence, so was I.NPP, along with Peace Action, sponsored the first of our “Move the Money” training sessions where we’re gathering local activists to help them integrate information about the federal budget into the work ...

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, ...

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 ...

C. Chandler of Newcastle, WA, asks, “I keep hearing how bad these automatic spending cuts will be for the Pentagon. Will any other programs get cut?”We get a LOT of questions about the automatic spending cuts – known as sequestration – called for under the Budget Control Act (BCA) of ...

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 ...

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 ...