Tuesday night, the President delivered

his annual State of the Union address before a joint session of

Congress. Article II, Section 3 of the US Constitution requires the

President to “from time to time give to the Congress Information of

the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such

Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.” Presidents

have historically sent a written State of the Union to Congress, but

every president since Woodrow Wilson has chosen to deliver it in

person.

With the government operating on a

continuing resolution instead of an actual budget, and control of ...

The Politics of Health Care PolicyEven before the November 2, 2010 elections catapulted them back into power in the U.S. House of Representatives, members of the Republican leadership were already announcing their intention to repeal “Obamacare” – the health care reform legislation enacted by Congress only eight months earlier – as one of their first legislative goals.True to their word, House GOP leaders introduced legislation to repeal the new health care law on January 5, 2011, the first day of the 112th Congress. It was the second piece of legislation introduced, preceded only by a bill setting out the rules ...

The United States has been borrowing

its way out of mounting obligations and lowered revenues for some

time. We rely on the federal government to provide a variety of

services across the country, including healthcare for veterans,

special education programs, and energy grants for those with lower

incomes. When tax income is down, the government cannot simply stop

providing for the public. Instead, Congress authorizes the federal

government to borrow to pays its bills, with the expectation that

those loans (and their interest) will be repaid down the line.

The United States Government began its

life with debt left from ...

The

American Friends Service Committee and National Priorities Project

are preparing to announce the six lucky winners of If

I Had a Trillion Dollars

(IHTD), a national video contest which asks young people to convey

how they would spend the more than $1 trillion dollars spent on the

U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

After

receiving 48 compelling video submissions from passionate young men

and women across the country, AFSC and NPP will be announcing first,

second and third place prizes in both the middle/high school and the

college level categories on January 17, 2011, the celebrated birthday ...

In the Continuing

Resolution passed by Congress on December 21, 2010 one line

specifies that the maximum Pell Grant award amount shall not exceed

$4,860. These grants, which do not have to be repaid, are an

essential part of making college affordable. However, not many are

aware of the history of the grant, who actually receives the money

and how much the grant is worth in the real world. NPP is here to

help!The Pell Grant came into existence as

the Basic

Educational Opportunity Grant via the Higher Education Act of

1965. In 1980, the program was renamed ...