Home
Latest Updates
Latest Numbers on Outside Spending, Secret Money and Super PAC Fundraising for 2012
At a time when America is facing an obesity epidemic, crushing debt and a weak economy, billions of taxpayer dollars are subsidizing junk food ingredients. In this report, we find that in 2011, over $1.28 billion in taxpayer subsidies went to junk food ingredients, bringing the total to a staggering $18.2 billion since 1995. To put that figure in perspective, $18.2 billion is enough to buy 2.9 billion Twinkies every year—21 for every single American taxpayer.
Green Bay, WI – Federal subsidies for commodity crops are subsidizing junk food additives like high fructose corn syrup, enough to pay for 21 Twinkies per taxpayer every year, according to WISPIRG’s new report, Apples to Twinkies 2012. Meanwhile, limited subsidies for fresh fruits and vegetables would buy one half of an apple per taxpayer.
Doctors, nurses, and public health officials agree: carbon pollution spewing from power plants fuels global warming, which threatens our health through dirtier air. Left unchecked, the deterioration of air quality triggers asthma attacks, heart attacks and other fatal diseases.
Pages
PIRG In The News
Rich Williams, the higher education advocate for U.S. Public Interest Research Group, said he thought about 14 moderate Republican senators might support the effort to keep the interest rates down. “This should be a bipartisan issue,” he said. “It’s something everyone gets.”
A push to create free or inexpensive textbooks is gaining momentum as educators, philanthropists and policymakers nationwide search for new ways to rein in college costs.
WISPIRG at UW-Madison hosted a stop of the Textbook Rebellion, a national tour to promote open-source textbooks.
Pages
Find your chapter
Get Involved!
Work on important issues, learn valuable skills, get hands-on experience, and make a difference.