Kris from Concord, California, wrote in to ask how much aid the United States gives to foreign countries.

Foreign aid and diplomacy together comprise around 1 percent of the federal budget, or $56 billion in President Obama’s 2013 budget request.

That money goes toward global poverty alleviation, including a contribution to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, as well as peacekeeping operations conducted by the United Nations and general U.S. diplomatic activities around the world.

That $56 billion does not include foreign military assistance, which is estimated at an additional $14 billion in fiscal 2013 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

In the last couple of years it's become strikingly clear that the majority of people in the United States do not know where or how their federal tax dollars are spent. As a result, they feel disengaged from both the personal and societal impacts of federal spending and believe they receive little benefit from and have little influence over the creation or oversight of our nation's budget.

The absence of clear information about U.S. federal spending and its local impact has helped erode democratic participation. NPP believes that the federal budgeting process is meant to be participatory ...