Budget Matters Blog

Category: Military & Security


5 Reasons to Talk to Congress This August

August recess is the best opportunity to tell Congress your thoughts on Iraq, immigration, corporate taxes, unemployment benefits, and more.


$1.5 Trillion and Counting: What New Involvement in Iraq Means for Federal Spending

As President Obama allowed a trickle of troops back into Iraq, and air strikes are expected to continue for weeks or months, Americans are wary about our role in a conflict most of us think we never should have started in the first place. Polls show that while Americans are divided on new airstrikes in Iraq, most are against sending troops back.


Pick Your Better Border Budget Battle: Can we reach a deal on the border crisis?

Competing funding proposals to deal with the border crisis express vastly different priorities about border security, refugee assistance, and legal representation, echoing the deep divisions about immigration reform overall.


Penny on the Dollar: US Foreign Aid is about One Percent of Spending

One of the most enduring myths about the federal budget is that a significant portion of it goes overseas in the form of foreign aid.  In fact, foreign aid is about one percent of the federal budget.


The F-35: The Pentagon’s Most Expensive Weapon Can’t Even Fly

The Pentagon’s most expensive weapons system in history, the infamous F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, was recently grounded. 


Give Peace a Chance: What the Federal Budget Tells Us About the U.S. Response to ISIS and Iraq

How will the United States choose to respond to instability in Iraq, where ISIS is at the center of renewed conflict?


What’s More Patriotic – Investing at Home or Overseas?

With Independence Day this week, Americans are celebrating all the things that make our country great. A patriotic mindset begs the question of how our involvement in conflicts overseas – like responding to crisis in Iraq – defines our country’s priorities.


Localizable Federal Budget Data: What Does Your Community Spend on Education, the Iraq War, Foreign Aid, and the Debt?

What’s the cost of the Iraq war to taxpayers in your town? If you could reallocate those tax dollars, what would you buy instead? NPP's easy-to-use, localizable federal budget data can answer these questions and many more.


NPP Hits the Road to Move the Money from the Pentagon to Domestic Programs

 In 12 short weeks, NPP and Peace Action has visited 4 states and reached more than 60 participants with our groundbreaking "Move the Money" trainings, encouraging local communities to engage in the federal budget process, learn about current spending priorities, and develop strategies for how to change them.


We can't afford to spend more money on war in Iraq

Over the past decade, American taxpayers have sunk more than $816 billion into funding the war in Iraq.