At a time when Congress is focusing on cutting federal spending, the National Priorities Project has launched a new interactive tool that offers people across the nation a way to understand and respond to national budget decisions.

Because federal budgets affect millions of Americans each day, the Federal Priorities Database helps users compare the way our nation spends money with the social impact of these expenditures. The database tracks both federal spending and social indicators like poverty rates, renewable energy usage and enrollment in the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, as well as information at the state, county and school district level.

You can search, map and download information on defense contracts, affordable housing units, student-teacher ratios and other data. Here are some examples of info you can find in the database:

• One in seven people in the United States received food stamps in 2010. The number of program participants increased 42 percent from 2008 to 2010. In Texas, 3.5 million people received Food Stamps in 2010, up more than 18 percent from 2009.
• With U.S. unemployment remaining above 9 percent, only one-third of unemployed individuals qualified for unemployment insurance. Nevada had a 15 percent unemployment rate in 2009 and received $50,604,191 in federal Unemployment Insurance funding.
• Some 32 million students currently access subsidized or free school lunches through the  National School Lunch Program. In the Springfield, Mass., school system, 81 percent of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch.