When President Barack Obama signed the latest bailout for spendthrift states and government unions, he claimed the $10 billion earmarked for education spending would save the jobs of 160,000 teachers. But as we pointed out before the bill was signed, this number was completely made up. Since local governments always exaggerate the number of government workers they will lay off, only a tiny fraction of teacher jobs was ever in real jeopardy. And even then, layoffs could have been avoided if teachers unions would have just agreed to pay freezes …
The House of Representatives rushed back to Washington yesterday in the middle of their six-week vacation to pass yet another bailout. This latest one, $26 billion in total, temporarily saves state governments that have overspent for years from fixing their chronic budget problems. The newest bailout spends $10 billion for education funding in the states. This money is on top of the $100 billion in education funding the states got from the stimulus. The remaining $16 billion will bailout states’ bankrupt Medicaid programs. Claims that this newest round of bailouts …
The House of Representatives just passed the $26 billion education “jobs” bill by a vote of 247-161. The money will be split up with $10 billion going towards state and local workers in public education. The other $16 billion will go to state Medicaid payments. Speaker Nancy Pelosi had called members back from the August recess in order to pass the “emergency” piece of legislation. The public sector has been thriving at the expense of the private sector. Over at Jay Greene’s blog, Matthew Ladner displays the chart (click on …
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs did not give the White House daily press briefing yesterday. The stated excuse was a bad cough. But there was no mention of any flu-like symptoms when The Hill reported yesterday that Gibbs believes the “professional left” should be “drug tested” since they will only be satisfied “when we have Canadian health care and we’ve eliminated the Pentagon.” After an outpouring of leftist protests over the article, including a call from Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) that he resign, Gibbs walked back his criticism, releasing …
One week ago, Members of the House of Representatives stopped spending taxpayer money and began a six-week vacation. Unfortunately, they came back five weeks early. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has summoned Members back to Washington to debate an extension of Medicaid and education bailouts. The House will vote today to extend these bailouts enacted in the stimulus bill last year. If passed, the bill—which overcame a filibuster in the Senate last week—will then go to the President for his signature.
This Congress has broken a lot of ground, but for all the wrong reasons. Now it has another ridiculous notch to add to its belt: Congress is poised to pass a major piece of legislation without bothering to give it a name. To recap, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) told us that health care reform would have to pass before we could find out what’s in it. Then, for the first time since the modern budgetary process was enacted, the House decided not to pass a budget (avoiding one of its …
What happens when parents have the opportunity to exercise choice and send their children to private schools? Children get an education that best meets their unique needs, and taxpayers get to put some hard-earned dollars back in their pockets. Per-pupil annual expenditures in New Jersey public schools now average $17,000, eclipsing school spending in other states. But the Governor’s Study Commission on New Jersey’s Nonpublic Schools recently determined that New Jersey private schools save the Garden State $2.7 billion annually. Yet in the past five years, non-public school enrollment has …
The taxpayer-funded, $10 billion public-education bailout moved one step closer to reality today when the Senate voted 61–38 on a cloture measure, clearing the path for bill consideration toward the end of the week. Since the House has already left for recess, Speaker Nancy Pelosi will have to call members back for a vote, which she has promised to do. Do teachers need lawmakers to leave the beaches and head back to Washington? Not if we’re to believe reports from school districts about their summer hiring. Mike Antonucci of the …
Many state leaders are lobbying the Senate to extend the Medicaid bailout enacted in the February 2009 stimulus bill. While several attempts by Senate leaders to extend the bailout have failed, it will be brought to the floor again on Monday, this time bundled with additional spending on education. Talk about throwing good money after bad. For both Medicaid and education funding, a continued bailout would disproportionately benefit the most irresponsible states and would allow them to delay taking the steps they must to live within their means. Federal taxpayers …
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced the 19 finalists for the final phase of the $4.35 billion Race to the Top (RTTT) competition on Tuesday. The finalists are Arizona, California, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and South Carolina. In his speech, Duncan called the reform movement a “quiet revolution” and said the program “has unleashed an avalanche of pent-up education-reform activity.” Duncan is absolutely right that this is a “quiet revolution,” because …
