Budget Matters Blog

Entries By Lindsay Koshgarian


Your taxes provided $48 billion to Lockheed Martin. And some other stuff.

April 15, 2019 is Tax Day. Do you know where your tax dollars are? Here's a hint: military contractors cost the average taxpayer more than the price of a new Macbook Pro, but public housing costs the average taxpayer less than a curling iron from Wal-Mart. The average American paid...


Trade-Offs from the 2020 Trump Budget

America's military budget is so huge that the Trump budget's proposed increases for FY 2020 can seem like a drop in the bucket. But let's compare the value of some of Trump's most extra priorities to things that can actually improve people's lives.


Trump's $174 Billion Budget Lie

If Trump pretends that the Pentagon is also subject to strict spending limits, he can argue that his more than $50 billion in cuts to programs like the Environmental Protection Agency and Legal Aid are honest attempts to control federal spending. 


Trump's FY2020 Budget Request Bloats Militarized Spending—and Slashes Actual Human Needs

At long last, President Trump released his third presidential budget request today, after a month-long delay due to the government shutdown. And it’s a doozy.


Tell Congress to Use Their Power: No National Emergency at the Border

The president will declare a national emergency in order to commandeer federal funds to build his wall, according to reports today.


Deja vu: Four Days Until Shutdown

It's deja vu all over again.


Trump Budget Delayed By Shutdown

The president’s budget request, which is legally due on the first Monday in February, will be late this year as a direct result of the government shutdown.


Border Solution Must Not Include a Wall

It’s time to end this shutdown once and for all, and it’s time to end the fiction that Americans want or need a wall at our border.


Is the End of the Shutdown Near?

It’s day 33 of the shutdown. An announcement Wednesday by House Democrats offered yet another possible solution to the ongoing government shutdown battle over the president’s demand for $5 billion for a border wall. 


Longest Shutdown Ever

Congress has the power to make things right, but it would take a bipartisan stand against the president.