The sequester not only cut money allocated to federal programs, but also meant reductions for federal spending at the state and local level.

Nearly every American is intimately connected with the earned benefits Social Security and Medicare – first as a contributor then as a recipient. Nearly 90% of us indicated that we’re in favor of taking strong measures to preserve the long-term stability of both programs.

Kaitlin Devine from the Sunlight Foundations guest posts with an update on the 2013 version of the DATA Act, intended to improve federal spending transparency.

NPP successfully met our May Gift Challenge, thanks to the generosity of our online community!

Guest blogger Anthony Holley reports on the Hack for Western Mass project to reconcile federal spending data in USASpending.gov with numbers reported in the federal budget.

This past weekend ~100 hackers from all over Massachussetts generously donated their time and expertise for the National Day of Civic Hacking event for Western Mass. This inspiring event was one of 95 held across the country.

Hack for Western Mass was a tremendous success, drawing volunteers from the region and beyond to work on nine local challenges (including some federal budget projects). We were joined by the Sunlight Foundation, the Census Bureau, and a team of small hackers in training.

This weekend is Hack for Western Mass, one of over 90 events taking place across the country for the National Day of Civic Hacking. What are local orgs doing with government data? You'd be surprised!

The special tax break for investment income – also known as capital gains and dividends – will let taxpayers off the hook for more than $61 billion in taxes this year. Most of those tax savings go to a particular kind of taxpayer.

For more than a decade National Priorities Project's Cost of War site has been keeping track of real-time federal spending on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But now the Cost of War site is going to tackle new terrain.