Democrats Deceived Public in Claiming Public School Bailout was Deficit Neutral

Senate Democrats were set to vote on a $10 billion bailout for public schools, claiming all along the measure was “paid for with spending cuts.” When the Congressional Budget Office revealed it was going to add $5 billion to the deficit, the vote was delayed until Wednesday.

The National Education Association, the biggest beneficiary of the legislation, perpetuated the lie on its website. The NEA stands to gain about $36 million in dues dollars.

While news reports indicate it could come up again Wednesday, here’s to hoping it won’t see the light of day again.

Americans can ill afford to continue adding to the deficit for a jobs plan that does little for the future and continues funding the status quo. Public education has become little more than a public works project, throwing good money after bad.

Democrats in Washington are throwing a bone to the teachers unions – a very expensive bone at that – and it should continue to be opposed by sensible Senators from both parties.

Senate Democrats, though, acknowledge this is a bump in the road. And they’ll continue putting us further in debt however they see fit. From The Morning Call:

If the Senate can’t get it passed, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey said the chamber would try again until it does.

“It’s likely we’ll have to keep going back to the drawing board and going back to a different way to pass it,” Casey said. Republicans have held it up over concerns about federal spending amid high deficits.

But even if the Senate does get it passed before adjourning for its August recess, the House, which has already left, still needs to take up the bill when it returns in mid-September.

The school year, of course, starts prior to when the House could possibly vote on this, so school personnel decisions would have already been finalized. So this is little more than a gift to the National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers – financed with money from our children.

Taxpayers should continue fighting against this type of reckless spending with everything we’ve got and force government to live within its means, just as American families have to.