People's Guide to the Federal Budget

Introduction – Why a People’s Guide?

For a number of years as part of the President's annual budget request the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) included “A Citizen's Guide to the Federal Budget." OMB released the last Citizen's Guide in February, 2001 to accompany the Fiscal Year 2002 budget request. According to that last version, "we know you care a lot about how the Government spends your money. That’s why A Citizen’s Guide to the Federal Budget was created...We hope to make the budget more accessible and understandable."

Since 2001 taxpayers have had to fend for themselves in efforts to make the budget more accessible and understandable. Yet we still care a lot about how the government spends our money, perhaps now more than ever. National Priorities Project (NPP) believes that all people affected by federal spending priorities should have the ability and opportunity to shape our nation's budget. To that end, NPP strives to make complex federal budget information transparent and accessible so people can prioritize and influence how their tax dollars are spent.