Yesterday the team at National Priorities Project unveiled President Obama’s new budget on our all-new website. I had an interesting discovery while combing through those budget numbers. I found that the president’s spending priorities match pretty closely with the things Americans say they want. Of course the budget is complicated. But let’s say for a moment that it’s as simple as a public opinion polling question.

The Pew Research Center found that 62 percent of Americans want the president to spend more on education, despite concern over deficits. That was the strongest support for increasing any ...

President Obama presented the American

Jobs Act of 2011 on September 8th and sent it to Congress

on September 12th. Want to know what it's all about?

Here’s the rundown.

How does it help…

the unemployed? It makes it

illegal for employers to discriminate against unemployed job

applicants because of their unemployed status, and would extend

unemployment benefits, among other provisions.

employers? It cuts the payroll tax

in half for 98 percent of companies. It also gives a $4,000 bonus to

employers who hire the long-term unemployed.

veterans? It creates a “Returning

Heroes” tax credit to employers ...

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 ...

Earlier this week I went to Washington, D.C. for the international conference of RESULTS, a nonpartisan organization working to end hunger and poverty by empowering individuals to exercise their personal and political power. The goal of RESULTS is captured in this quote by former Oregon Republican Senator Mark Hatfield:“We stand by as children starve by the millions because we lack the will to eliminate hunger. Yet we have found the will to develop missiles, capable of flying over the polar cap and landing within a few hundred feet of their target. This is not innovation. It is a ...

I had the real privilege of

speaking at the Michigan Forum on Jobs and Human Needs on Saturday,

March 6, 2001. Sponsored by a great mix of labor, faith, peace and

student groups, the event was held in Lansing, Michigan, the state's

capital, which is located within Ingham County.

Many of the conference organizers

are affiliated with Our Nation's Checkbook (ONCB), a national budget

priorities organizing campaign run amazingly well out of Friends

Committee on National Legislation and supported by NPP's information.My task was to answer the

question: What the heck does the federal budget have ...

Congress is currently struggling to

pass a budget for FY 2011 (which began six months ago). The debate

has been overtaken by overwhelming concern about both the annual

deficit and the national debt which is approaching $14 trillion. In

the two-week continuing resolution passed on March 2, higher

education programs in the federal Department of Education will

lose $129 million in funding for just the next two weeks alone.

At the same time Congress is proposing cuts in federal aid, the

states themselves are experiencing fiscal crises and making difficult

budget choices for their FY 2012. Public higher education has ...

NPP

Provides State-Level Analysis of the President'sFiscal

Year 2012 Budget RequestToday

the White House released the Obama Administration's budget request

for Fiscal Year 2012, which begins on October 1, 2011.

As

expected, the estimated $3.7 trillion FY2012 request contains a

number of critical policy and fiscal goals, including:

Reducing

the government's annual deficit by placing a five-year freeze on

so-called "non-security" discretionary spending, while

eliminating a series of fossil fuel-related tax breaks and projecting

an end to the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans in 2012;

Investing

in education, with a goal of training more ...

To the Congress of the United States:America is emerging from the worst recession in generations. In 2010, an economy that had been shrinking began to grow again. After nearly 2 years of job losses, America’s businesses added more than one million jobs. Our capital and credit markets are functioning and strong. Manufacturing is coming back. And after teetering on the brink of liquidation just 2 years ago, America’s auto industry is posting healthy gains and returning money to the taxpayers who helped it through a period of turmoil. The determination and resilience of the American people and ...

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 ...