The deal's been done, but the U.S. is still a few steps away from having a budget. What's next?

NPP is working with partner organizations to send a letter to our lawmakers in Washington, D.C. Dear Congress: it's time for Congress to return to the regular appropriations process and ensure that people have a voice in how their tax dollars are spent.

You've heard whispers. Perhaps here and there in the news there's been mention, yet again, of the potential for a government shutdown. So here's the update you need – in handy cheat-sheet format.

The House, the Senate, and President Obama agreed on something. Surprised? Well, technically they agreed to agree on something in the future. Several weeks ago, leaders of the House and Senate announced they’re planning to pass a continuing resolution in September in order to fund the federal government past Sept. 30, which is the last day of fiscal year 2012. If lawmakers don’t pass any spending legislation by that date, the government will shut down on Oct. 1 when fiscal 2013 begins.

Bob Dylan once said, "Money don't talk, it swears!" While it's easy to curse the budgetary decisions made by lawmakers, we often don’t realize how incredibly complicated the process is. I've been reading A People's Guide to the Federal Budget...

With the end of the current fiscal year rapidly approaching, what many Washington watchers have long predicted appears to be true – Congress will not act on next year’s budget by the October 1 deadline.“But wait,” you’re saying, “October is a long way from now. How can you be sure?”

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. ...

During Pie Week, we’ve explored three types of federal spending pies: total, mandatory, and discretionary. Judging from your comments on our Facebook page, you have strong opinions about the numbers on these charts. To wrap up the week, we think it’s important to see the spending charts next to one ...

Pie Week continues today with the part of the federal budget that often receives the most scrutiny: discretionary spending.