Who We Are

Iowans For Sensible Priorities is a non-profit, non-partisan 501(c)3 organization in Iowa dedicated to educating the public about the inequities of our current federal budget. We aim to redirect 15% of the Pentagon’s discretionary budget away from obsolete Cold War weapons towards education, healthcare, job training, alternative energy development, world hunger, deficit reduction. This 15% cut, or $60 billion dollars, on obsolete weapons systems and the further proliferation of nuclear weapons does not include the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and in no way impacts homeland security or our defense. We have the money; let’s spend it on sensible priorities!

By eliminating wasteful expenditures, America could make investments that build strong communities for a better future.

Iowans for Sensible Priorities is a grassroots project of Business Leaders for Sensible Priorities (BLSP). BLSP, founded in 1998 by Ben Cohen of Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream, is comprised of 650 business executives and a dozen military authorities.

Our Strategy

With the First-in-the-Nation Caucuses, Iowans play a vital role in the process of selecting our Presidential nominees.  This unique opportunity allows us access to potential and current elected officials, the national press, and most importantly… drive the debate. Polling in Iowa shows that once people know how their federal budget is sliced up, they want change.

Our activities in Iowa will present Ben Cohen-inspired marketing including our Priorities! Pens and a unique and sometimes wacky fleet of educational vehicles including the OreoMobile, CarnyMobile, PieMobile, and the PigMobile We also will have a series of celebrity speakers and notable officials who will help raise awareness of sensible federal budget priorities. 

The cornerstone of our marketing campaign is the bill we introduced in Congress, the Common Sense Budget Act. It details how $60 billion in unnecessary Pentagon spending on obsolete Cold War-era weapons systems could be eliminated. We'll show how the savings can be invested in proven programs that address unmet human needs like education, healthcare, job training, energy independence and humanitarian foreign aid - all activities that generate real national security and are strongly supported by the public.