Federal Legislative Update
June 2008

June 27, 2008
June 20, 2008
June 13, 2008
June 6, 2008

06/27/08

News From Capitol Hill ...

Tell Congress: End the DC voucher experiment

The District of Columbia's ineffective voucher program, scheduled to expire September 30, will continue unless the FY09 Financial Services Appropriations bill is amended. The Bush Administration is pushing to reauthorize program and increase funding from $14 million to $18 million per year despite strong evidence it is not helping DC students:

• For two straight years, federal evaluations have found no overall difference in academic achievement between students in the voucher program and public school students.
  
  
• A Government Accountability Office report documented myriad problems associated with lack of accountability, including spending taxpayer's money to support private schools that do not charge tuition.
  
  
• Private schools are exempt from public accountability standards, including No Child Left Behind requirements.
  

  Contact your representatives in Congress TODAY!
  Tell Congress to end the DC voucher experiment - not extend it as the President has proposed.

Tell Your Senators: H.R. 3221 Puts Public Education in Jeopardy

Legislation now before the Senate will jeopardize funding for schools, police, and other vital public services. Part of the American Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act (H.R. 3221), it would deny tax deductions to residents of localities that raise tax property rates to compensate for revenue shortfalls caused by plummeting home values. This unwarranted federal intrusion into local and state government would:

• Force many localities to cut schools, police, and other vital public services.
  
  
• Set a deeply troubling precedent: discriminating among localities based on how they enact property tax changes.
  
  
• Result in uneven and unfair burdens on taxpayers - the provision is so complex the Internal Revenue Service would find it impossible to administer.
  

Contact your Senators TODAY!
Tell them that enacting H.R. 3221 in its current form jeopardizes funding for schools and other essential public services.

06/20/08

News From Capitol Hill ...

The Fight Continues: Tell Congress "No More Vouchers!"

As we have told you in recent weeks, Congress is considering legislation that could extend the problem-ridden District of Columbia voucher experiment. This ill-advised program is supposed to expire this September. Unless Congress hears strong opposition, they might extend the program beyond its expiration date.

The DC voucher program:

• Has not demonstrated a positive impact on student achievement.
• Drains $14 million per year from public education.
• Is opposed by three-fourths of DC's own residents.

Urge your elected representatives to put an end to the unproven, poorly managed DC voucher program.

Contact your representatives in Congress TODAY!
Tell Congress the DC voucher experiment deserves to die on schedule this September.

Remind Congress: We Are Still Waiting For Repeal Of Social Security Offsets

Despite hearings in both the House and the Senate in the past year, legislation to repeal the Government Pension Offset and Windfall Elimination Provision has not moved out of committee. The House bill has well over 300 bipartisan cosponsors and the Senate bill has 37.

It is time for action. Tell your elected representatives that we have waited long enough.

Contact your representatives in Congress TODAY!
Tell Congress to move legislation to repeal the GPO and WEP forward for a vote.

06/13/08

News From Capitol Hill ...

Tell Congress: End the DC voucher experiment!

Congress will soon consider funding legislation that could include provisions to extend the problem-ridden DC voucher experiment. This ill-advised program, set to expire this September:

• Has not demonstrated a positive impact on student achievement.
• Diverts $14 million per year from public education and is opposed by three-fourths of DC's own residents.
• Pays tuition for students to go to private schools with unqualified teachers - some do not have even bachelor's degrees.

Urge your elected representatives to put an end to the unproven, poorly managed DC voucher program.

Contact your representatives in Congress TODAY!
Tell Congress  the DC voucher experiment deserves to die on schedule this September.

06/06/08

News From Capitol Hill ...

Tell Congress: Support Children's Health, Rural Education, and GI benefits

The House of Representatives will soon take up a "supplemental" appropriations bill for the Iraq war. The Senate version of this bill includes several very important domestic spending provisions, including to:

• Continue Medicaid reimbursements that help children with serious and chronic conditions go to school;
• Continue funding for one year for the expired Secure Rural Schools and Community Self Determination Act, which provides a guaranteed payment to rural, timber-dependent counties;
• Expand education benefits for veterans of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan; and
• Extend unemployment insurance benefits.

Tell Members of the House to:

1. Urge Speaker Pelosi to support keeping these Senate provisions in the House version of the bill;
2. Talk to their colleagues, especially the more fiscally conservative Blue Dog Democrats, and urge them to support these provisions; and
3. Vote to support a bill that includes these domestic spending priorities.

Contact your representatives in Congress!
Tell House members to support the domestic spending provisions in the Iraq supplemental funding bill