Budget Matters Blog

Category: Military & Security


What the heck does the federal budget have to do with Michigan?

I had the real privilege of speaking at the Michigan Forum on Jobs and Human Needs on Saturday, March 6, 2001. Sponsored by a great mix of labor, faith, peace and student groups, the event was held in Lansing, Michigan, the state's capital, which is located within Ingham County. Many ...

President Obama's 2012 Budget

NPP Provides State-Level Analysis of the President'sFiscal Year 2012 Budget RequestToday the White House released the Obama Administration's budget request for Fiscal Year 2012, which begins on October 1, 2011. As expected, the estimated $3.7 trillion FY2012 request contains a number of critical policy and fiscal goals, including: Reducing the ...

The FY2012 Budget Message of the President

To the Congress of the United States:America is emerging from the worst recession in generations. In 2010, an economy that had beenshrinking began to grow again. After nearly 2 years of job losses, America’s businesses added morethan one million jobs. Our capital and credit markets are functioning and strong. Manufacturing ...

The President Speaks

Tuesday night, the President delivered his annual State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress. Article II, Section 3 of the US Constitution requires the President to “from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration ...

What would you do with $1 trillion dollars? Ask a young filmmaker

The American Friends Service Committee and National Priorities Project are preparing to announce the six lucky winners of If I Had a Trillion Dollars (IHTD), a national video contest which asks young people to convey how they would spend the more than $1 trillion dollars spent on the U.S. wars ...

The Dollars and Sense of Nuclear Weapons

In Prague last April, President Obama raised the world’s hopes with his speech calling for a “nuclear free future.” Since then, his Administration has made non-proliferation – preventing the spread of nuclear weapons to other nations – a top national security priority. As part of this effort, U.S. officials negotiated ...

Worried About The Deficit? Why Not Choose Sustainable Defense?

That’s the message Congressmen Barney Frank (D-MA) and Ron Paul (R-TX), along with 55 of their Capitol Hill colleagues are pushing.On October 13, 2010 they sent a letter to the President’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform advocating defense cuts. The letter contains a broad range of options for ...

Serving up a Discretionary Budget Pizza The first slice for Bangor, Maine

In the last couple of years it's become strikingly clear that the majority of people in the United States do not know where or how their federal tax dollars are spent. As a result, they feel disengaged from both the personal and societal impacts of federal spending and believe they ...