The House, the Senate, and President Obama agreed on something. Surprised? Well, technically they agreed to agree on something in the future. Several weeks ago, leaders of the House and Senate announced they’re planning to pass a continuing resolution in September in order to fund the federal government past Sept. 30, which is the last day of fiscal year 2012. If lawmakers don’t pass any spending legislation by that date, the government will shut down on Oct. 1 when fiscal 2013 begins.

President Obama was in Columbus, OH this week, talking about funding for education. Just by coincidence, so was I.NPP, along with Peace Action, sponsored the first of our “Move the Money” training sessions where we’re gathering local activists to help them integrate information about the federal budget into the work ...

What kind of country do you want to live in? That's a question I'll be asking Colorado residents on Sept. 4th and 5th when I have the honor of speaking at the Tattered Cover Book Store in Denver and the Boulder Book Store in downtown Boulder. We'll be talking about A People's Guide to the Federal Budget and how our elected officials are faced with decisions that will shape this country for years to come.

Federal income tax credits, deductions, and exclusions are a form of government spending that cost more per year than the amount of the U.S. budget deficit.

The start of the new school year is just around the corner. Funding for education is a key issue this budget year, since budget cuts at all levels of government threaten funding for public schools.

If there was ever any doubt that the U.S. federal budget would claim center-stage in the 2012 presidential race, it vanished with Mitt Romney's selection of House Budget Chair Paul Ryan (R-WI) as the GOP Vice Presidential nominee. Although Mitt Romney has emphasized he will run on a Romney budget, ...

On our Facebook page, Kevin from Pennsylvania asked about proposals he's heard in recent years in favor of a national sales tax. Given that such proposals generally try to exempt families of certain income levels, would these policies still be considered regressive?

We just discovered that the book-sharing site GoodReads has some great discussion about A People's Guide to the Federal Budget. Wrote a young person by the name of Chris Byron: This is the type of book that puts college text books to shame. Studying the federal budget, the tax system, tax rates, could take three-four months and require testing. Or, from now on, the reader can buy this book.

Last week I went to Madison, Wisconsin, to talk with students at the U.S. Students Association national conference. The USSA has a simple, powerful slogan: "Education is a right." I had the chance to talk with a small group of students about the federal budget. It was a 90 degree afternoon and these young people had been up until 4 o'clock in the morning in a legislative session, but that didn't stop them from pulling out their notebooks and asking for information about how Washington spends our tax dollars.

Our latest dataset is Title I Education Grants. See how much your state and county received from this federal program to help improve teaching and learning in high-poverty schools.