Lindsay Koshgarian

Lindsay Koshgarian is the Program Director of the National Priorities Project, where she oversees NationalPriorities.org. Lindsay’s work on the federal budget includes analysis of the federal budget process and politics, military spending, and specifically how federal budget choices for different spending priorities and taxation interact. A particular area of focus is how a decades-long policy of outsized military budgets has eroded political will to invest in opportunity and human potential through greater federal support of education, health care, infrastructure and more.

Prior to joining NPP in 2014, Lindsay was a researcher at the University of Massachusetts Donahue Institute, where she conducted state and regional economic development studies. She got her start as an organizer for Planned Parenthood in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. She holds a Master of Public Policy from UCLA and a BA in Physics from the University of Pennsylvania.

Latest

Only in Top Gun Can the Military Solve All Our Problems

Lindsay Koshgarian | June 14, 2022

In real life, plowing money into shiny fighter jets while Americans struggle and the climate burns makes us less safe.

A column of armored personnel carriers rides on a winter road. Ukraine prepares to defend its country from Russian invasion

It’s Almost As If Military Spending Isn’t the Key to Peace

Lindsay Koshgarian | May 9, 2022

U.S. and NATO militaries spent more than 17 times as much as Russia. Putin still waged war on Ukraine.

About That $900 You Gave Pentagon Contractors

Lindsay Koshgarian | April 13, 2022

This tax season, I’d rather fund green jobs and disease control than jets that spontaneously combust. Wouldn’t you?

Our Skyrocketing Military Spending Helps Pentagon Contractors—Not Ukraine

Lindsay Koshgarian | March 28, 2022

Less than one percent of the Pentagon’s new $782 billion budget is marked for Kyiv. About 50 times as much will go to for-profit corporations.

Members of the National Guard help distribute food during the pandemic. Many communities have had to rely on the Guard because they lack funding for other priorities.

Our Military Budget Is More Lopsided Than Ever

Lindsay Koshgarian | March 16, 2022

Spending 12 times as much on our military as Russia didn’t prevent a war in Europe. It just deprived us of resources at home.

President Biden Delivers His First State Of The Union Address To Joint Session Of Congress

Biden’s State of the Union Address Showcased Disconnect in Spending Priorities

Lindsay Koshgarian | March 3, 2022

The spending priorities Biden listed in his State of the Union speech don’t match reality. It’s time to invest in the people of this country.

Ukrainian tanks participate in a military operation in 2015

Will the U.S. Stoke War in Ukraine While the World Burns?

Lindsay Koshgarian | January 31, 2022

While the U.S. sends quick weapons shipments and maneuvers troops, other urgent problems go unsolved.

Pamela Garrison, a member of the Poor People’s Campaign West Virginia chapter, addresses the crowd

Congress Approved $778 Billion for the Pentagon. That Means We Can Afford Build Back Better.

Rev. Dr. William Barber II, Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharris, Lindsay Koshgarian | December 22, 2021

Some senators say Biden’s social and climate bill costs too much, but comparing it to the military spending plan they just passed suggests otherwise.

helicopter dropping money on social service building

A $778 Billion Pentagon Budget is Our Lump of Coal

Lindsay Koshgarian | December 21, 2021

Congress just passed a $778 billion military budget, and failed to pass the Build Back Better plan that costs less than a quarter of that annually.

‘An Endlessly Increasing Pentagon Budget’

Lindsay Koshgarian | December 15, 2021

The end of the war in Afghanistan resulted not in a budget decrease, but more increases. Then Congress cut Build Back Better in half.

U.S. Military Contracts Totaled $3.4 Trillion Over 10 Years

Lindsay Koshgarian | October 28, 2021

Democrats are slashing the Build Back Better bill from $3.5 trillion to $1.75 trillion over ten years. Meanwhile, Pentagon contractors have received $3.4 trillion over the past decade.

f-35 fighter jet getting ready for take off

Don’t Cut the Build Back Better Plan — Cut the Pentagon’s Budget

Lindsay Koshgarian | October 22, 2021

The president’s $3.5 trillion human-needs plan is facing severe cuts from key members of Congress. So why does the military get $7.5 trillion, no questions asked?

u.s. military soldiers armed and patrolling a sandy aread resembling a desert

9/11 at 20: Two Decades of Missed Opportunities

Lindsay Koshgarian | September 8, 2021

For just a fraction of what we’ve spent on militarization these last 20 years, we could start to make life much better.

State of Insecurity

Lindsay Koshgarian, Ashik Siddique, Lorah Steichen | September 1, 2021

The Cost of Militarization Since 9/11

We’ve Spent Billions on War. Now, Let’s Spend to Bring Afghans to Safety.

Lindsay Koshgarian | August 19, 2021

The U.S. needs to focus on bringing as many Afghans as possible to safety as refugees.

National Priorities Project Commends Senate Rejection of $50 Billion Pentagon Grab

Lindsay Koshgarian | August 10, 2021

The increase would have come on top of the more than $750 billion the budget resolution already reserved for the Pentagon.

U.S. military soldiers exiting a plane and running toward an objective

Biden’s Unconscionable Military Budget

Lindsay Koshgarian | June 2, 2021

With the Afghanistan War finally ending, we shouldn’t squander our “peace dividend” on costly weapons or military bloat.

us continues to spend more money on war and pentagon budget while CDC and other agencies recieve small budgets

The Pentagon Increase Is the Size of the Entire CDC Budget

Lindsay Koshgarian | May 14, 2021

One of the most confounding decisions in the president’s budget request was the decision to increase the Pentagon and war budgets.

F-35 fighter jet to depict president joe biden's increased pentagon budget and militarism

Biden Is Thinking Big on Jobs. On the Pentagon, He Should Think Smaller.

Lindsay Koshgarian | April 21, 2021

An increase in the military budget won’t make us safer or more prosperous.

Biden’s Pentagon is Still Trump’s Pentagon

Lindsay Koshgarian | April 16, 2021

Biden’s recent Pentagon budget proposal would increase Pentagon and war spending from $740 billion in FY2021 to $753 billion in FY2022.

Program Director

National Priorities Project

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Topics of Interest

Costs of War, Diplomacy and Foreign Aid Budgets, Federal Budget, Federal Budget Process and Politics, Federal Spending, Inequality, Militarism and Law Enforcement, Military Spending, Participatory Budgeting, Tax Policy