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 ...

It seems that these days, everyone has an opinion about how our federal budget should be spent, cut or balanced. 

Youth are disproportionately affected by budget cuts, but often don't have a voice in the debate -- until now.

The American Friends Service Committee and National Priorities Project are pleased to announce the second annual If I Had a Trillion Dollars (IHTD) national youth video contest.

The IHTD Youth Film Festival asks young people to speak out on the federal budget and to consider how our nation prioritizes spending and revenue generation.  

Who? The contest is open to individuals and ...

Our friends at the Sunlight Foundation are working for a more transparent "Super Committee" process and have developed five recommendations:

Provide a live webcasts of all official meetings and hearings

Make available the Committee's report for 72 hours before a final committee vote

Disclose every meeting held with lobbyists and other powerful interests

Disclose all campaign contributions as they are received (on their campaign websites)

Provide financial disclosures of Committee members and staffers

Check out Sunight's campaign page at http://sunlightfoundation.com/opensupercongress/ with additional resources for individuals and groups to take action.

In addition to all the ...

Right now our elected officials are trying to balance the federal budget on the backs of the most marginalized Americans.

This crusade to drag government into the bathroom and drown it will,

over time, result in the erosion or near eradication of programs that

safeguard our collective well-being. Four years into an economic crisis,

the majority of our states remain in deficit and local communities are

far beyond cutting fat. We're now sawing at bone.

This year, fewer federal dollars will flow into my home state of

Massachusetts at a time when the Commonwealth budget is already short

$1 ...

Here we go again.

For the second year in a row, Congress

will not complete the federal budget process in time

for the October 1 turn of the fiscal year.

Last year, we were dragged through

eight painful continuing resolutions lasting until mid-April –

leading ultimately to decreases – largely in non-security

discretionary spending – totaling $38 billion.

And this summer's political theatre

revolved around the debt ceiling and threats of a government

shutdown. Unfortunately, even as the Super Committee charts the next

decade of federal spending and revenue priorities, we're on track

this fall for more of the same nonsense ...

10 numbers you need to know:

$1.26

Trillion –

Total amount appropriated by Congress for the wars in Iraq and

Afghanistan through the end of Fiscal Year 2011 (September 30, 2011)

– $797.3 billion for Iraq and $459.8 billion for Afghanistan.

$7.6

Trillion –

The total amount spent on “security” by the U.S. government

since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 (through the end

of Fiscal Year 2011).

96

Percent –

The percentage increase in “Security” discretionary spending

(Defense Department, weapons activities of the Department of Energy,

homeland security, international affairs and veterans affairs) from

FY2000 to FY2011 ...

National

Priorities Project announces the launch of its Federal

Priorities Database,

a tool which compares the way our nation spends money with the

social impact of these expenditures. The database tracks both

federal spending and social indicators (e.g., poverty rates,

renewable energy usage and enrollment in the State Children's Health

Insurance Program) and houses information at the state, county and

school district levels.

There's an

abundance of timely and vital stories in each of NPP's nine database

categories. At a time when all eyes are on the federal budget -- and census data in particular,

we hope ...

The

White House Office of Public Engagement has scheduled a series of ten

state calls (see list and specific invitation below). Note there are

two calls today (Wednesday) for folks in California and Colorado and

the rest through the end of this week. You are welcome to forward

this invitation far and wide.

White

House staff want to speak with constituents about the federal budget

deficit/debt deal. There will be an opportunity to ask questions. NPP

hopes you will be able to join in and ask a question and/or make a

comment. (Tip: Call facilitators often give instructions ...

In

the midst of Congressional debates about debt, budget cuts, and tax

increases, a “penny poll” was held in every

Maine county asking participants, “How would you like your federal tax

dollars spent?” Mainers Larry Dansinger and Lisa Savage were among the leading coordinators of this effort.Education, health care, and veterans’ benefits were the top choices

for federal spending among the1,552 Mainers participating in polls conducted in each of Maine's 16 counties.The

results -- determined after counting 15,377 pennies -- diverge considerably from

the actual spending by Congress, but were relatively consistent in

different parts of the ...

Our latest webinar Hitting the Debt Ceiling is a 45-minute presentation (with Q&A) that will introduce people to the current debate in Washington related to raising the legal limit on the U.S. national debt, which will shortly reach $14.3 trillion.The government is set to officially reach the debt limit by the middle of May. According to Treasury officials, however, emergency measures taken by the Treasury Department combined with higher than expected tax revenues will postpone a potential default until the beginning of August.Failure to raise the debt ceiling - the total amount that the U.S ...