Congress managed to squeeze through a budget deal just before its Dec. 13 deadline, narrowly avoiding another crisis. Yet there is still a long way to go. January is sure to be action-packed.

The two-year deal keeps our nation stuck in an austerity paradigm, leaving out many of the things Americans value – unemployment insurance, job creation, sufficient Food Stamp funding, tax reform, and investment in our nation’s infrastructure, renewable energy, and education. And – on top of all this – Congressional appropriators are working now in the same closed-door fashion as the Budget Conference Committee, deciding the fate of our tax dollars with no public input.

It is outrageous, plain and simple.

We gained a lot of ground in 2013. Our movement for an accountable government and for spending and revenue priorities that match the best interests of our nation ended grew stronger and more strategic. We ended a government shutdown, stemmed sequestration, and incited a broad public to action. Read about our accomplishments here.

We have to go further to go in the New Year and NPP is charting a bolder course forward.

In a time of government dead-lock, NPP’s team will continue to open up critical access to lawmakers and the media. We will doggedly track and analyze federal spending and revenue so that you, journalists, and NPP’s partners across the country can weigh in effectively and influence Congressional budget battles. And, in the coming year, we’ll focus more on the actions you can take to make sure your data-strengthened voices reach the centers of power.

As Annie Leonard, filmmaker and creator of Story of Stuff wrote recently, “NPP does the hard work of tracking budgets, crunching numbers, and articulating alternative scenarios which makes our work easier. NPP’s work has demonstrated that another way is possible, and that we could start building it right now with a shift in spending and policy priorities.”

Here are five indications that Annie’s dream of another future is ours to seize together.

1. 243 million Americans are of voting age. Together our votes and voices are stronger than money in politics or deadlocked lawmakers. NPP is celebrated nationally as the people’s guide for those 243 million voices – and we are making Congress listen.
2. NPP’s materials have been an award-winning source for the irrefutable data necessary to demystify complex political moments and demand greater accountability, including sequestration, the government shutdown, and corporate tax reform.
3. This year, NPP has reached tens of millions of Americans. We saw a 30 percent increase in traffic to our website. Hundreds of national partners leveraged NPP’s research for trainings, town hall meetings, Congressional lobby sheets, op-eds, grassroots actions, and more. Hundreds of journalists from well-over 1,500 media outlets sought out NPP’s data and analysis, including the New York Times, C-SPAN, and MSNBC.
4. NPP raises the voices of people from all over the nation who want a more participatory democracy. Terry, from Louisville, Colorado, sent this message after engaging with one of NPP’s online tools for the first time: “Congress needs to do its job and have a budget and it should meet the needs of the people of the United States.”
5. To honor our 30^th Anniversary, social change leaders such as Bill Moyers, Robert Reich, Bill McKibben, Jobs with Justice, MomsRising, National Domestic Workers Alliance, and the U.S. Student Association have celebrated NPP for the deep contribution our organization has made to social change movements from coast to coast.

This year we have accomplished so much.

Here is NPP’s vision for the New Year: Our nation's budget will reflect the values and priorities of the majority of Americans when all people have the opportunity and ability to influence federal spending and revenue priorities!

Let’s accomplish even more together in 2014!