Budget Matters Blog

Category: Budget Process


NPP Gives Thanks for the Federal Budget

This holiday season, NPP staff share what makes them thankful for the federal budget.


What Can We Expect from the Lame Duck Congress?

Lawmakers returned to Washington yesterday to begin work in the “lame duck” Congress that goes through the end of the year. There’s plenty to do, but there’s no telling how much will actually get done.


Your Vote, and What Next?

Of the respondents to our informal election day poll, 96% of you said you would or had already voted this year. 


Will You Vote On Tuesday, November 4?

Will You Vote On Tuesday, November 4?


NPP Brings You Competing Visions: Election Edition

This week, we revisit our popular Competing Visions analysis and provide you with a breakdown of how some lawmakers propose divvying up the federal budget. Because that’s what all our voter’s guides have in common: federal spending.


Participatory Budgeting Can Transform our Democracy

Last week I had the good fortune to join an amazing group of people doing exciting and transformative work in the growing field of participatory budgeting (“PB”), at the third annual PB Conference, held this year in Oakland (and nearby Vallejo), California. [I was invited to speak on two panels--one...


Millennial Perspective: The Promise of Participatory Budgeting

NPP Executive Director Doug Hall will present at the Participatory Budgeting Conference taking place in San Francisco on September 25-27 on how to influence the federal budget process. In honor of the power of participation, we bring you a guest post from Tarsi Dunlop, of the Roosevelt Institute, on what participatory budgeting is and why cities should adopt it.


Spotlight: NPP’s Social Security and Unemployment Insurance Voter’s Guides

Americans say that ensuring the Social Security system and improving the job situation in our country are two of the most important issues facing Congress and the president in 2014. Here at NPP we have developed a set of Voter’s Guides that break down key federal budget issues like these into easily digestible facts and provide you with important questions for the candidates.


Congress Passes a Spending Bill: Top Three Takeaways

Congress has settled how the government will spend billions of dollars over the next couple of months. From Syria to our own homegrown border crisis, here’s what you need to know.


#PeoplesClimate and People's Budget: #WorthSaving

Even the Pentagon has called climate change a national security threat. Why do we spend so little on climate change initiatives compared to so much on other programs?