Media Contact:
Domenica Ghanem, 202-787-5205, domenica@ips-dc.org
(Washington, DC) — While congressional leaders are pushing a plan to cut taxes for the rich, Congress is considering an $80 billion increase in military spending. It is harmful spending policies like these that have brought groups like the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) and the National Priorities Project (NPP) together.
On October 2, 2017, NPP and its leading experts on the federal budget will come under the umbrella of IPS. The National Priorities Project at the Institute for Policy Studies will continue its work at making the federal budget accessible to the American public so that ordinary folks can participate in critical debates about federal spending and revenue.
While NPP at IPS will remain at its Northampton, Massachusetts location, it will take on new national significance as it teams up with other IPS projects focused on racial justice, climate justice, and peace and foreign policy.
The addition of NPP to our other projects is already helping IPS expand our work on:
- Linking job cuts by tax-dodging corporations to devastating cuts to services that could be triggered by an immoral tax reform plan
- Exposing the interplay between poverty, racism, militarism, and the climate crisis in the U.S. in a landmark report for the new Poor People’s campaign
- Employing facts to clear the fog of fear around rising tensions with North Korea to spread the message of diplomacy over war
- Outlining policy proposals to transfer funds from the military budget to a climate security budget to address one of the most pressing dangers of our time
“We couldn’t be happier for NPP to leverage their work and find synergies with existing IPS programs — especially on military spending,” IPS Director John Cavanagh said. “Both political parties have claimed that there’s just not enough money in the federal budget for needs like universal health care, or debt-free higher education. But NPP’s work has exposed that lie and shown that we’re wasting billions of dollars a year and destroying millions of lives in endless wars in the Middle East and elsewhere around the globe.”
“This is a natural partnership given how interconnected our issues are: from peace and security, to economic and racial justice, to climate change.” NPP at IPS project director Lindsay Koshgarian said. “We’re facing many challenges today — from threats of war with Iran to threats of a tax plan that would line the pockets of overpaid CEOs. Misinformation fuels these threats, as it fueled our current endless wars in the Middle East. The need for a reality check has never been greater and joining IPS will result in a stronger NPP, with deeper ties to grassroots movements and new audiences for our work. “
###