When asked if they support cutting certain types of federal spending, many Americans say they'd like to see the U.S. reduce the amount of aid we give to foreign countries. So it's worth knowing: How much does our federal government currently spend on foreign aid?

Once again, NPP contributed facts about the budget, taxes, and federal spending to the Presidential Debate conversation happening on Twitter. Here are some of our most popular tweets.

Because the Social Security program is an earned benefit programs – future beneficiaries pay into the system while they are members of the work force – it is often assumed that your benefits are based on your contributions to the program. In this model, Social Security operates like a government ...

Paul from Northampton, Mass., wrote in to ask: "Some politicians say Social Security in no way contributes to the deficit. But for the last two years Social Security expenditures have exceeded Social Security revenues. How does this not contribute to the deficit?" Good question, Paul.

The Oct. 1 start of the new fiscal year passed quietly this year, as Congress recessed in mid-September so House and Senate members could return to their districts to campaign before the critical November elections. Members plan to return to Washington in mid-November for a “lame duck” session of Congress, during which there will be pressure to address a number of major issues.

These days, it’s fashionable for any candidate for federal office to talk about how quickly he’ll reduce the budget deficit, which totaled around $1.1 trillion in fiscal 2012.

NPP's research team live-tweeted and fact-checked the first debate of the 2012 Presidential Election. If you missed, here are our top 5 tweets.

During the upcoming presidential debates there will likely be a lot of attention paid on what the role of government ought to be. As taxpayers, you and I account for about two-thirds of the government’s annual revenues – an estimated 47 percent in Fiscal Year 2013 through our individual income ...

The first of three presidential debates is scheduled for Wednesday. We don't know precisely what topics the candidates will cover, but we can make some educated guesses. And one reader from Duluth, Minnesota, wrote in to ask us about a likely topic: the much-debated 2009 stimulus package, which greatly increased federal spending for several years. The president and his team were famously over-optimistic about how quickly the economy would recover, but that's a separate issue from whether or not the stimulus helped ease the devastating effects of the downturn. Here's the low-down.

It turns out that even people who are knowledgeable about the federal budget are surprised by the potential impact of sequestration – the automatic spending cuts set to go into effect at the end of this year.This week I had the opportunity to return to Ohio, a critical swing state ...