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

Will the Longest Shutdown in US History End in a Power Grab?

If Trump declares a national emergency, he can fund his wall against the wishes of Democrats. Will he?

Trump’s $5 Billion Wall Is a Waste

Here’s what we could spend it on instead.

Stop Wasting Money on the Pentagon

Military leaders literally don’t know what they’re doing with our money, but they want more. People on the left and right have had enough.

Will the Government Shut Down Over Trump’s $5 Billion Border Wall?

Congress has been working to pass legislation funding the federal government for months. If they don’t reach a deal by midnight Friday, one-quarter of the government will shut down.

Nine Things to Buy with $5 Billion Instead of a Border Wall

Five billion dollars is not huge in a federal discretionary budget of more than $1 trillion. But it’s an incredibly meaningful sum to any number of smaller federal government programs.

How Skewed Are Our Government’s Economic Priorities?

As Trump threatens not to sign the appropriations bill, the battle over the border wall continues to hold up federal government funding.

Breaking Down the U.S. Military Budget

The U.S. federal budget is a cerebral subject, seemingly reserved for the technocratic elite to calculate, deconstruct, recompose, modify, and amend. But it affects people’s daily lives in profound ways, and not just in America.

Here’s What We Could Have If We Slashed the Military Budget

The US military budget sucks up an enormous amount of resources without making the world more peaceful or democratic. Here are a few ways we could better spend that $717 billion.

Trump Tax Plan 2.0 Cements the Worst Economic Policy in a Generation

House Republicans are doubling down on reforms that awarded tax giveaways to corporations and the wealthy.

Republicans Scramble to Make Tax Cuts Permanent Ahead of Midterms

Is the GOP is rushing this process due to fear of losing their House Majority or because they think it will help their chances during midterms?

The $717 Billion Defense Bill That Just Breezed Through the Senate Should Be a National Scandal

Democrats and Republicans rubber-stamped a severely bloated war budget.

We Can Pay For Free College The Same Way We Paid For A Pointless $5.6 Trillion War

Ideas like Medicare for All are written off as fantasy thinking by the same people who support virtually unlimited military spending.

Trump’s Complaints About NATO Defense Spending Don’t Add Up

If Trump’s concern is spreading the burden of security, why does he want the U.S. to ramp up its military spending?

Trump’s Giving Diplomacy a Chance. His Critics Should, Too.

But for the Korea talks to work, the administration will have to value diplomacy far more than it did on Iran.

Forget Work Requirements for the Poor — Guarantee Them a Job Instead

Instead of stigmatizing struggling people, a jobs guarantee would do far more to lift poverty than Trump’s mean-spirited work requirement ever could.

Tax Day 2018 Was a Bonanza for Corporations and the Military

The Trump tax plan will likely lead to a corporate income tax cut of $135 billion in 2018 alone.

How Corporations Cheat Veterans Out of Tax Dollars

This year, average taxpayers paid twice as much to corporate military contractors than to caring for all veterans combined.

Seven Surprising Tax Facts for 2018

Surprise! Corporations and billionaires are paying way less in taxes, with some profitable corporations paying nothing at all.

Report: How Your Personal Income Taxes Were Spent in 2017

Our analysis found that the average taxpayer put in 29 working days in 2017 to pay Pentagon contractors.

Trump Hates the Poor

Trump’s budget proposal has something to hurt almost everyone, but it’s a perfect storm for the poor.

Program Director

National Priorities Project

Email this expert

    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

    Wednesday 8 o’clock Buzz

    WORT-FM | July 26, 2023

    Cut the Military Budget

    East Liverpool Review | June 2, 2023

    The Warfare State Compromises Our Welfare

    This is Hell! | June 2, 2023

    More...