Making Children a Greater National Priority in the Federal Budget
Welcome to ChildrensBudget.org, the first dynamic, interactive website giving you the tools to explore how the federal government invests taxpayer resources in our children. ChildrensBudget.org is a project of First Focus, a national, bipartisan children’s advocacy organization. Using this site, you can discover annual funding information for each federally supported program that aims to help our nation’s children. The boxes below allow you to search for individual programs, compare categories of children’s spending, and even create a custom category of the programs that matter to you. For more information on how to use this site, please view an introductory video.
The Federal budget is a reflection of our national priorities. Politicians of all political affiliations claim to put kids first. Yet this year, the federal government will spend less than 10% of its budget on programs addressing the needs of American young people. Are we shortchanging our children?
Over the past five years, children have lost significant ground in the federal budget. Their share of the federal non-defense budget declined from 11% in 2004 to 10% in 2008.
Search for funding data on more than 180 federal programs that benefit children by entering criteria in the form fields below.
Select a children's budget category to view more details.