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| Congressional Democrats on Tuesday plan to speed billions of dollars in emergency education aid to states in hopes of reversing the layoffs of tens of thousands of teachers. The cash infusion could save the jobs of people like Dave Ebersback who is one of 14 math teachers in the Toledo, Ohio, school district to receive a layoff notice. |
Washington Democrats are in such a rush to pass one more stimulus-type bill that the legislation to be voted on Tuesday doesn’t even have a name, Republicans note.
As CNET reported, a watchdog Web site on Sunday evening noted that the Democrats’ $26-billion spending measure includes a few blank spaces.
Congress’ official Web site calls it the ‘______Act of____,’ and the Library of Congress’ Thomas Web site displays it as the ‘XXXXXX Act of XXXX.’”
“A nameless bill for a hopeless cause is a fitting metaphor for a Democratic Congress that refuses to listen to the American people and abandon its job-killing agenda,” said House Republican Leader John Boehner (Ohio).
Boehner on Monday offered 10 possible names for what he called the “union-boss bailout” bill:
- Save Our ‘Stimulus’ (SOS) Act
- ‘Recovery Summer’ Bailout Act (Cash for Flunkers)
- Delivering Unions a Major Boost (DUMB) Act
- Helping Election Expenditures, Hurting American Workers (HEEHAW) Act
- Democracy is Strengthened by Clearly Leveraging and Optimizing Special-Interests’ Effectiveness (DISCLOSE) Act
- Holding Union Bosses Over Until Card Check Act
- Rescuing Incumbent Democrats Is Costly (RIDIC) Act
- Summertime Cash for Union Bosses Instead of Spending Cuts for Taxpayers Act
- Frivolous Act of Ineffective Largesse (FAIL) Act
- Naming These Things Hasn’t Gotten Us Anywhere, So Why Bother? Act
Boehner says the Republican Party is listening to the American people and is “offering better solutions to make government more responsive and accountable to the people it serves.”
Republicans specifically object to what they call “out of control government spending” that they say is boosting deficits and stifling job-creation.
They also criticize House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for calling the House back into session this week to pass a bill that will “create and save” – according to Pelosi -- 290,000 American jobs, including “140,000 teacher positions and 150,000 police officers, firefighters, nurses and private sector jobs throughout our economy.”
Republicans say the bill is an election-year gift to teachers unions and public workers’ unions.
The Senate passed the no-name legislation last week by a vote of 61 to 39, at a time when the House had already adjourned.
According to Boehner, House Democrats should reconsider “beating a path back to Washington to double down on the same ‘stimulus’ policies that have led to fewer jobs and more debt. The American people don’t want more Washington ‘stimulus’ spending – especially in the form of a political season pay-off to union bosses,” he said.
“How about Washington Democrats do the right thing for a change and focus on helping small businesses?” Boehner asked.
He says Congress should ease the uncertainty for employers by stopping the tax hikes Democrats plan to impose on families and small businesses.
The reason we don't have new jobs is because of the job-killing agenda pursued by President Obama and his allies in the Congress,” Boehner said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“They really do have employers scared to death. I’ve been all over my district over the last several days. … I talked to a lot of employers who just are fearful of what’s coming next out of Washington. It’s all the spending, it’s all the debt. It’s their national energy tax. … More mandates, higher costs, more taxes. It’s their health care bill: more mandates, higher costs and higher taxes. If that’s not bad enough, they want to raise the taxes on the American people. It’s no wonder that employers are frozen,” Boehner said.
According to the Associated Press, the bill to be voted on Tuesday provides $10 billion to school districts to rehire laid-off teachers or ensure that more teachers won't be let go before the new school year begins.
The other half of the bill provides $16 billion for six more months of increased Medicaid payments to the states. That would free up money for states to meet other budget priorities, including keeping more than 150,000 police officers and other public workers on the payroll.
