The National Priorities Project (NPP), a research organization that analyzes and clarifies federal data so that people can understand how their tax dollars are spent, continues to be an invaluable resource when it comes to translating the costs of the Iraq War.

$456 billion has now been appropriated for the war through September 30, and that’s a difficult number to get a handle on. But as I’ve written previously (here and here), NPP spells out exactly what every state and district has paid towards this catastrophe and describes the spending priorities that could have been met with those same resources.

For example, $456 billion could have provided over 48 million children with health care coverage for the length of the War; built 3.5 million affordable housing units; 45,800 elementary schools; hired 8 million additional public school teachers for a year; paid for nearly 60 million kids to attend Head Start; or awarded 22 million 4-year scholarships at public universities. Instead, we find our nation speeding towards what Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz estimated as a final price tag – somewhere between $1 trillion and $2 trillion.

But the hope is that as Americans become more aware of the costs of this war in treasure (as well as lives), constituents will increasingly pressure their representatives to break with the President and end this tragic course. That’s why other antiwar groups are beginning to make good use of NPP’s data too.

This week, MoveOn.org released its own report on the cost of the Iraq war relying exclusively on NPP’s cost of war information and trade-off data by state and congressional district. MoveOn will use this information as the basis for actions in 160 cities, educating constituents and pressuring Members of Congress to end the War.

Also throughout this week, USAction Education Fund is releasing reports outlining the damage done to 25 states by the “upside-down priorities of the Bush administration and previous, Republican-led Congresses,” and what the current Congress is trying to do to repair that damage. The report uses NPP’s data on the cost of the Iraq war, and its analysis of how Congress’ proposed spending bills would impact each congressional district. The USAction Education Fund report will be used to urge members of Congress to override President Bush’s threatened vetoes of modest spending increases in all domestic programs, from children’s health care to the Food Stamp Program.

In a released statement, NPP executive director Greg Speeter said: “Our information is all about giving people what they need to hold their Congresspeople accountable for their actions. We’re pleased to see our data making that possible in such coordinated and widespread efforts.”

And coordinated, widespread efforts are exactly what we need to bring an end to this war.