Budget Matters Blog

Transparency Camp 2013 Opening Session. Photo by TamasSzemann.

Earlier this month, I represented NPP at Transparency Camp, the Sunlight Foundation’s annual gathering of people interested in making governments transparent and accountable. Transparency Camp is an unconference, meaning that its agenda is set by participants. That’s part of the magic, since 500 attendees come from all over the world and represent a wide range of perspectives: government employees, programmers, activists, watchdog organizations, lobbyists, and the media. Taking a few days off from business-as-usual and immersing yourself in these varying outlooks is enlightening and energizing.For example, a few of ...

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and President Obama/ White House photo by Chuck Kennedy

A better-than-expected cash flow at the U.S. Treasury has turned May 18 into just any old day.

That was supposed to be the deadline for lawmakers to come to an agreement on raising the debt ceiling, which is the limit Congress places on its own borrowing. But the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are expected to send tens of billions of dollars in profits to the Treasury over the coming months, while government spending has gone down due to the cuts of sequestration. That ...

If you're concerned about gridlock in Washington, get ready for more fireworks. May 15 marks the unofficial start of the annual appropriations process on Capitol Hill, where Congress begins putting together the spending bills that support many domestic federal programs and the Pentagon.First, let’s take a couple of steps back. Each year, with the February release of the president’s budget request, the White House and Congress begin a Five-Step process that normally results in a federal budget. Step Two is the enactment of House and Senate budget resolutions which guide the remainder of the process.Things ...

The White House/ flickr

By John Wonderlich

Today, the White House is issuing a new Executive Order on Open Data -- one that is significantly different from the open data policies that have come before it -- reflecting Sunlight's persistent call for stronger public listings of agency data, and demonstrating a new path forward for governments committing to open data.

This Executive Order and the new policies that accompany it cover a lot of ground, building public reporting systems, adding new goals, creating new avenues for public participation, and laying out new principles for openness, much of which can be found ...

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. The following guest blog is an explanation of how lawmakers ultimately passed the "Reducing Flight Delays Act" - by lying about a typo and throwing transparency out the window.

By Jim Harper

Last weekend, we reported how Congress had failed to pass identical versions of the same bill in the House and Senate, meaning it couldn’t be signed into law. Now they’ve fixed the problem … by ...

Photo courtesy of rileyroxx's photostream on Flickr / Creative Commons.

Join me, if you will, in envisioning a pathway to a nation where the federal budget reflects the priorities of the American people.

That nation would have funding for a strong public education system, stable health care and social security programs for elders, a safety net providing basic human needs -- like food and heat -- for people who are struggling, and smaller national deficits as a result of mitigated spending and progressive tax reform.

That nation is within our reach. Multiple polls show that these are the priorities of the majority ...

Photo by U.S. Embassy, Santiago Chile

How much money does the U.S. spend on foreign? "Very little," I wrote back in October.

But some readers rightly critized that characterization of U.S. foreign aid spending. Indeed, while foreign aid is well under 1 percent of the total U.S. federal budget, it's still counted in the multiple tens of billions of dollars – around $23 billion this year, or a total of $37 billion if you include assistance to foreign militaries. And that, of course, is a lot of money. Here are the precise figures:

Foreign Aid

In ...

The Medicare program accounts for around 14 percent of the entire federal budget, but you wouldn’t know it from USAspending.gov. USAspending.gov is a website that’s supposed to make government spending transparent. But if you use it to investigate how much the government spent on Medicare benefits last year, you’ll find a surprising number: zero. That’s not a reporting error; there are many such problems in USAspending.gov, and it’s a sign of opaque government. In 2012 Washington actually spent more than $500 billion on Medicare. Citizens should have access to that information – both ...

Photo by John Krzesinski / Creative Commons flickr

They’ve hit a new low.

Citing significant concerns about long lines at airports and flight delays caused by the furlough of air-traffic controllers, Congress let the Federal Aviation Administration override strict sequestration rules and redirect funds within its budget. And they did so with lightning speed.

With their big fuss over aviation punctuality, lawmakers made it clear that they’re not feeling the pain felt by the majority of Americans. Their message: In the United States it’s fine to wait – and face a steep climb – for housing, health care, cancer treatment ...

By Blake Pappas

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 and the students they serve. One way that many school districts attempt to cut costs in ...