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 ...

How does money from the federal budget affect you and your neighbors? Where do those Social Security, food stamp, and Medicaid dollars end up?

NPP has released the latest version of the Federal Priorities Database, the interactive tool that connects the dots between our tax dollars, the federal budget, and programs or services in your community. The Federal Priorities Database can answer these questions, and now it contains data from USASpending.gov.

USASpending.gov for the Average Citizen

Although USASpending.gov is a public website, it provides raw, low-level records and a search form that’s useful for data wonks ...

President Obama in the Oval Office/ White House flickr

Today President Obama released his fiscal 2014 budget proposal, which set a record for arriving two months after the legal deadline of the first Monday in February. Here are the top five things to know about the new budget.

5. The president's budget would reduce Social Security cost-of-living adjustments through "chained CPI."

President Obama became the first Democratic president ever to propose reductions in Social Security benefits by endorsing an alternate measure of inflation – known as chained CPI – to shrink cost-of-living adjustments for retirees. The president plans to save $230 ...

Taxes are due on April 15 – right around the corner – though few Americans know where their taxes actually go. So NPP is launching Tax Day 2013 – a suite of materials, including this chart that shows how Washington spent every one of your income tax dollars in 2012.

And get this:

We'll write you a personalized tax receipt

You can share the average taxpayer's receipt on Facebook and Twitter

Four Ways to Take Action

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Think your friends would like to know about this tool? Join NPP ...

Rep. Paul Ryan. Photo by Gage Skidmore/ Creative Commons license

Three budget proposals for 2014 arrived in Congress this week – one authored by House Budget Chair Paul Ryan, another by Senate Budget Chair Patty Murray, and one by the Congressional Progressive Caucus. We have detailed analysis of all three. Here are the top five things to know:

5. Rep. Paul Ryan and the House would make deep cuts in spending, in large part by reducing programs for low-income people

Rep. Ryan proposes $5.7 trillion in spending cuts to be implemented over 10 years. Similar to his budget last year ...

2007 Economic Census Data courtesy of the Census Bureau

In recent weeks, NPP has written about the effects of sequestration on education, transportation, and health programs. We’ve also released a series of state-level fact sheets about sequestration and the Pentagon. But what about the effect of sequestration on government-produced data?

Last month, the Commerce Department estimated that sequestration will cut a total of $46 million from the Census Bureau, delaying the release of critical economic and demographic data and delaying preparations for the 2020 census. NPP recently signed on to a letter from the Census Project urging that the ...

Rep. Paul Ryan. Photo by Gage Skidmore/ Creative Commons license

Today House Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan released his budget resolution for fiscal 2014. The proposal includes many of the same elements as his proposal last year – including deep cuts to spending on health care and safety-net programs like food stamps, plus reductions in many other kinds of spending. Rep. Ryan once again proposes reducing tax rates for top earners and corporations while closing loopholes in the tax code, though he does not specify which loopholes. His budget would once again prevent cuts to military spending.

His proposal breaks new ...

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 ...

Congressional leaders have not put together enough votes to avoid sequestration. Photo of Speaker Boehner licensed under creative commons

All signs point to sequestration taking effect as scheduled tomorrow, March 1. (For all the background on sequestration, check out our Fiscal Cliff II resource page.) To bring you up to date, here are alternatives to sequestration that have been proposed by both parties:

The president and Democrats in Congress have proposed alternatives to sequestration that include closing loopholes for oil and gas companies, a surtax on high incomes, and cuts to military spending phased in more gradually than those of ...

President Obama argues against a cuts-only approach to deficit reduction/ White House flickr

By now you've heard that federal budget cuts will take effect on Friday. And you've heard the strange-sounding name for these cuts: sequestration. Sequestration means across-the-board spending cuts, and this sequester was written into law in August 2011 as a kind of terrible incentive for lawmakers to pass a long-term deficit reduction plan. No one thought the cuts would actually take effect, but now – it is near certain – they will, and the fallout will reach all of us.

For instance. Fewer law enforcement officials in ...