HIGHLIGHTS

HOUSE VOTES TO SLASH EDUCATION, HEALTH CARE, FOOD ASSISTANCE

The House of Representatives approved the NEA-opposed Sequester Replacement Reconciliation Act.  This dangerous budget bill makes the wrong choices for our nation – opting to place the burden for the nation’s financial crisis squarely on the shoulders of the middle class and the poor, while failing to ask anything of those most able to contribute toward economic recovery.  The package slashes funding for education, kicks hundreds of thousands of low-income students off school meals programs, cuts funding for food assistance for millions of poor families, and rolls back health care protections – including reducing the number of people covered by Medicaid (which serves one third of our nation’s children) and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.   Read NEA’s letter opposing the bill. See how your Representative voted.

Congress will continue to debate these issues, as deep cuts scheduled to go into effect in January 2013 approach.  We need to tell Congress that balancing the budget should not be done by slashing education and programs that serve our most vulnerable.  Tell Congress that we need a balanced approach that asks those most able to do so to pay their fair share. 

 

Take Action Today: Tell Congress to make the right choice for America’s future – protect children, working families, and seniors and ensure everyone pays his or her fair share.  

In contrast, President Obama’s FY 2013 budget proposal builds on his top priority to boost the middle class and promote economic fairness, President Obama made clear in his budget that high-quality education is absolutely critical to rebuilding our economy, and that a strengthened American workforce requires that we continue to invest in education.  The President’s emphasis on education is evidenced by the fact that education is targeted for the single largest percentage increase of any discretionary item in the entire federal budget.   

Highlights of the President’s budget include:

• Considerable focus on ensuring greater college and career access for all students
• Targeting of significant resources toward job creation, including $30 billion for school modernization projects that will create jobs and $25 billion to help states and localities retain and hire teachers, education support professionals, and first responders.
• Emphasis on increasing the quality of teacher preparation and making sure that all educators are prepared when they step into the classroom. 

NEA praised the President’s budget as clearly showing “the president’s commitment to keeping teachers in classrooms, which will help address growing class sizes, and to providing assistance to states and locals facing tough economic times.”  Read NEA’s press release.