News reports this morning indicate that the congressional budget conference committee is making little progress in negotiations toward a compromise spending plan for 2014. Let's give them a nudge in the direction of the people's priorities: Sign our petition to the budget committee and ask legislators to listen to the ...

They don't agree on much, but in at least one way the House and Senate are on the same page: They both want to increase military funding next year.

The 2011 Budget Control Act set the stage for the harsh automatic budget cuts known as sequestration to take place on January 1, 2013. These cuts will go on for a decade unless Congress agrees to stop them. Some initiatives, like the WIC Farmers' Market Nutrition Program, have been cut by more than 20 percent.

Last week we explained that Congress was rushing to prevent airport delays, even as education programs and services for vulnerable Americans - such as shelters for victims of domestic violence - were seeing funding cuts. Then lawmakers passed the "Reducing Flight Delays Act" - by lying about a typo and throwing transparency out the window.

The cost of education for a child with disabilities can be double the amount needed for a child without disabilities.  Many students with special needs require multiple services such as classroom aides, counseling, specialized equipment, or access to health professionals during the day. Special education programs are often underfunded, leading to poor outcomes for students and repercussions for schools and communities. Unfortunately, many school districts today are seeing budget cuts, and these cuts exacerbate the challenges faced by special education programs.

Governors and city mayors across the country want to have a say in negotiations over the fiscal cliff, the New York Times reported on Sunday. And no wonder. State budgets rely heavily on funding from the federal government, so across-the-board federal budget cuts – which are currently scheduled for the start of 2013 – would have a big impact on the states. Consider just a couple ways that federal money flows into your state.

The start of the new school year is just around the corner. Funding for education is a key issue this budget year, since budget cuts at all levels of government threaten funding for public schools.

Bob from Vacaville, California, wrote in to ask us for some fact checking. He said he hears all the time that the size of the federal government has ballooned under President Obama, and wondered if that could be true given all of the budget cuts.

Executive director Jo Comerford explains how budget reductions affect the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP).

 Last week I wrote about how automatic, across-the-board cuts scheduled to take effect in 2013 may never take place—because a new Congress can choose not to uphold budget cuts legislated by our current Congress.  But it’s also worth asking, if the next Congress does uphold these automatic cuts, called “sequestration,” ...