Budget Matters Blog

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 ...

Fifth grade class/ Creative Commons photo by superkimbo

A few weeks ago I spent the morning at Jackson Street Elementary School in Northampton, Massachusetts.

My daughter is enrolled at Jackson Street in Jen Reed’s Kindergarten class, where I’ve – happily – volunteered in the past. But during this last visit I was with the “big kids” – the fifth graders. My host was Mary Cowhey, Jackson Street’s Title I math instructor. Mary asked me to teach about the federal budget in order to build students’ math and civic capacity. After all, there are a lot of “big numbers” in our ...

House Speaker John Boehner, President Barack Obama, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid

Unable to broker an eleventh hour deal with congressional Republican leaders, President Obama signed the order activating the automatic across-the-board federal spending cuts – known as sequestration – on Friday.In the days prior to the March 1 deadline, the White House held a series of press briefings with the heads of various federal agencies highlighting the impact that sequestration would have on agency operations.Secretary of Education Arne Duncan warned that the $14.5 billion Title I budget – which provides assistance to low income communities – would be cut ...

President Obama argues against sequestration

On March 1, we’ll begin to feel the impact of sequestration – approximately $85 billion in automatic, across-the-board federal spending cuts in fiscal year 2013 focused almost exclusively on discretionary spending.

Designed as a penalty for congressional inaction, sequestration was supposed to force legislators to work together within a deficit reduction paradigm. It failed as a disciplinary measure. Many will implicate the prevailing austerity rhetoric as part of the problem believing it unwise to cut federal investment in the midst of continued economic crisis – especially when sequestration takes meaningful tax reform off the table. Now ...

The White House/ flickr

In the first State of the Union address of his second term, President Obama laid out a grand social vision for the next four years, while largely avoiding the critical budget challenges currently facing the nation.

He failed to mention the federal government is operating on a temporary budget or that the debt ceiling was merely suspended until May. He briefly mentioned across-the-board budget cuts – known as sequestration – that are scheduled for March 1, acknowledging that the effect of such cuts would be devastating. Nearly every federal program would be hit by sequestration, including Head Start ...

What a year for the federal budget! In 2012, our nation tackled complicated topics ranging from tax cuts to sequestration. The November election pivoted on candidates’ federal spending and revenue plans, and highly polarized debates about the so-called “fiscal cliff” continue to rage in Washington.

What's Ahead for the Fiscal Cliff?

At this moment, details emerging from the closed-door so-called fiscal cliff negotiations between President Obama and Speaker Boehner are out of step with the values and interests of the majority of Americans. Yet our voices -- our priorities -- should be central in any deal surrounding how our government will ...

If there was ever any doubt that the U.S. federal budget would claim center-stage in the 2012 presidential race, it vanished with Mitt Romney's selection of House Budget Chair Paul Ryan (R-WI) as the GOP Vice Presidential nominee.

Although Mitt Romney has emphasized he will run on a Romney budget, not a Ryan budget, he has already endorsed central elements of Ryan's plan – such as significant cuts to Medicaid and education – and has indicated that the Congressman will play a lead role in shaping the Romney/Ryan platform.

Paul Ryan's federal budget proposal includes sweeping changes ...

The Challenge

NPP is participating in the Knight News Challenge, seeking funding for the mobile piece of our new Backyard Budget project. Please help us strengthen our proposal by reading it and telling us what you think; you can do this on the News Challenge website.

What is Backyard Budget all about? Recent polls tell us that folks are confused about the local and state impact of federal spending and revenue decisions. To most people, the federal budget is invisible, corrupt, and impenetrable. Yet new studies – and NPP’s own experience – prove that if we put enough relevant and accessible ...

It’s late Friday afternoon. A young worker sitting at his desk receives his first paycheck. “Oh. Wow,” he exclaims, “My first paycheck!” His eyes move quickly to his take-home pay. “Man, I hate taxes,” he grumbles.

But his feisty paycheck talks back, offering to tell him the story of the federal taxes that take a bite from his take-home pay. He replies that he’d rather have a combo colonoscopy-root canal.

If Paychecks Could Talk is National Priorities Project’s answer to all of us who wonder how the U.S. government spends our tax dollars. Regular people are ...

On Saturday, March 3, 2012, 350 people packed the Haydenville Congregational Church to celebrate the life and work of National Priorities Project founder Greg Speeter. As a husband, father, brother, mentor, friend, and force-of-nature-community-organizer, Greg touched the lives of people in every corner of our nation.

During the service, led by Haydenville's Senior Pastor Andrea Ayvazian, family and friends shared the lessons they harvested from Greg's beautiful life. Over the next few weeks, NPP will post photos and videos from the memorial service taken by our good friends Jeff Napolitano and Sut Jhally.

For now, please visit the ...