Federal Legislative Update
March 2005

March 18, 2005
March 11, 2005
March 4, 2005

3/18/05

News from Capitol Hill...

Children, Education Mark Hard-Fought Budget Wins

Thanks to thousands of e-mails and calls from NEA cyber-lobbyists and others, three big victories emerged from the Senate budget passed yesterday...

Medicaid Vote Helps Children, the Elderly and Education

By a vote of 52-48, the Senate stood up for children, the elderly and people with disabilities when it restored $14 billion in Medicaid funding. The vote, on a bipartisan amendment by Senators Gordon Smith (R-OR) and Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), ensures that billions of dollars in health care costs won't be shifted to state and local governments, thereby jeopardizing funding for education and other priorities. State spending for Medicaid now exceeds state spending on K-12 education, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Special thanks go to the following Republicans for voting for the Smith-Bingaman amendment and going against the wishes of President Bush and GOP leaders: Chafee (RI), Coleman (MN), Collins (ME), DeWine (OH), Snowe (ME) and Specter (PA).

College Prep Programs, Pell Grants, New Teachers Get a Win

The Senate approved, 51-49, an amendment by Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) that restores three college prep programs aimed at low-income students: TRIO, GEAR UP and LEAP. In addition, the amendment raises the maximum Pell Grant to $4,500 per year and provides up to $23,000 in student loan forgiveness to new math, science and special education teachers in high-need schools. The Kennedy amendment, which restores $2.7 billion in funding, passed because six Republicans defied their party leadership. They are: Chafee (RI), Coleman (MN), Collins (ME), DeWine (OH), Snowe (ME) and Specter (PA).

$500 Million Targeted for Education Funding

Voting 63-27, the Senate passed an amendment by Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) that increases discretionary education funding by $500 million and provides an additional $1.5 billion for the National Institutes of Health.

The House also passed its budget yesterday. It mirrors in large part President Bush's budget proposal; it eliminates 48 education programs, including Vocational Education, Safe and Drug Free Schools, TRIO and State Education Technology Grants. Both chambers now will work out the differences in their budgets.

Despite Flagging Support, President Pushes Social Security Privatization

Despite the growing number people who say they do not support President Bush's plan to privatize Social Security, the President vowed March 17 to continue applying the full power of his office to convince the American people that private stock market accounts -- even though the President admits they do nothing to address the program's long-term cash shortfall -- are a good idea.

In a Washington Post -ABC News poll this week, nearly 60 percent of people said the more they learn about the President's proposal the less they like it. Nevertheless, the Administration and its congressional allies will press on with their tightly choreographed forums and town hall meetings to which only prescreened participants are invited.

NEA supports strengthening Social Security's long-term solvency. But NEA opposes diverting money from the Social Security Trust Fund for private accounts, because they would reduce benefits for all -- especially those most vulnerable -- and would pass on trillions of dollars in debt to our children. Let's keep working with the same energy and determination. With your help, we will stop any attempt to privatize the most successful anti-poverty program in the history of the nation.

Action Needed

• Speak out at back-home forums with your Members of Congress during the spring recess over the next two weeks. Write a letter to your local newspaper. Call your local radio talk show. E-mail this page to others.
• Join the more than 37,000 people who have signed NEA's petition to save Social Security.
• Find out if your Representative is one of the 221 Members of Congress who have signed on to H.R. 147 -- which would repeal the Government Pension Offset and Windfall Elimination Provision, unfair provisions that deny earned Social Security benefits to many teachers and education support professionals. If not, urge him or her to do so.

NOTE: A special Social Security "Action Alert" will be sent Monday, March 21, to NEA cyber-lobbyists who live in the districts of members of the House Ways and Means Committee. The cyber-lobbyists will be asked to schedule back-home visits with members of the committee during Congress's spring recess, March 21-April 3.

Senate Bill Would Repeal Unfair Social Security Provisions

Teachers, education support professionals and other public employees unfairly denied Social Security benefits they have earned stand to get some long-overdue relief if a bipartisan bill (S. 619) introduced by Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Susan Collins (R-ME) on March 14 becomes law. The Social Security Fairness Act, a significant breakthrough, would completely repeal both the Government Pension Offset and the Windfall Elimination Provision. Its companion bill in the House is H.R. 147.

Action Needed

• Learn if your Senators are among the nine who have already signed on to S. 619. If not, urge him or her to do so.

Victory! Senate Passes Voc Ed Bill 99-0

Congratulations to the NEA cyber-lobbyists and other education advocates for their role in convincing the Senate to part company with President Bush and reauthorize the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act. President Bush eliminated the program in his budget.

Shepherded by Senators Mike Enzi (R-WY) and Ted Kennedy (D-MA), the legislation retains a separate funding stream for the Tech Prep program, thereby ensuring the program's viability and its focus on affordable and accessible programs that promote career education. The bill also provides for fair and appropriate academic accountability measures, while making sure states will not lose Perkins funds based solely on "No Child Left Behind" performance standards.

Rep. Terry Introduces Bill To Fix 'No Child Left Behind'

In a major breakthrough on the "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) Act, the first Republican-initiated bill to amend NCLB was introduced March 14 by Rep. Lee Terry (R-NE). The State and Local Education Flexibility Act (H.R. 1177) is consistent with many of the changes NEA and others have long sought.

Among other things, the legislation:

• Better aligns NCLB and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act by allowing certain students with cognitive disabilities to be assessed in a manner consistent with their Individualized Education Plans.
• Ensures that local assessments are comparable across districts and are aligned with state content standards.
• Provides greater flexibility to help special education and rural teachers who teach multiple subjects meet NCLB's "highly qualified" requirements.
• Exempts limited-English proficient students' test scores from Adequate Yearly Progress calculations during their first three years.

Action Needed

• Ask your Representative to cosponsor H.R. 1177.

3/11/05
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News from Capitol Hill...

Budget Blueprints Fail To Protect Students and Schools

Call Congress March 15 and 16 To Share Your Concerns

Thousands of citizens concerned about how the House and Senate budget committee resolutions approved this week fail to protect children, the elderly and vulnerable working families are poised to speak out during a national call-your-Members-of-Congress day on Tuesday, March 15, and Wednesday, March 16. If left unchanged during House and Senate debate next week, the budget blueprints would push the costs of cuts in education and health care to states and local communities.

NEA believes the federal budget should reflect our nation's priorities of educating our children and providing them with adequate health care, protecting the most vulnerable among us, and investing in stronger communities.

CALL 1-800-247-2971 ON MARCH 15 AND 16 to make sure your Members of Congress know we want a budget that gives priority to education, health care and the elderly.

The Senate Budget Resolution

• Cuts education and training programs by $34 billion from 2006 to 2010.
• Calls for $15 billion in Medicaid cuts over the next five years, which will reduce state money available for education.
• Offers positive changes in higher education --
  • Adds money for increasing the maximum Pell Grant.
  • Eliminates Pell Grant funding shortfalls to allow more eligible students to receive help.
  • Reserves money for improvements in the student loan program.

The House Budget Resolution

• Cuts $2.1 billion next year and $21.4 billion through 2010 in funding for mandatory education programs, which could include school lunch and student aid for higher education.
• Will likely lead to cuts totaling $15.1 billion or more over the next five years for Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program, thereby reducing state money available for education.
• Falls some $9 billion short of the funding promised for the so-called "No Child Left Behind" law.
• Does not address the needs of tens of thousands of students served by Title I and the Individual with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
• Does not address the critical need for increasing the Pell Grant maximum to a level that helps students meet rising tuition costs.

Action Needed

Call 1-800-247-2971 on March 15 and 16 to urge your Members of Congress to write a fair and responsible budget resolution!

• Ask to be connected to your Senators and Representatives or call the U.S. Capitol switchboard directly at 202-224-3121.
• Don't be discouraged if the lines are busy; try again later. You can also find your Senators' direct line at www.senate.gov or your Representative's direct line at www.house.gov .

Send an e-mail  to your Members of Congress urging them to adopt a budget that protects children, the elderly and vulnerable families.

Social Security Trustee: Privatization Would Hurt Program's Solvency

The head of Congress's investigative arm testified at a congressional hearing March 9 that President Bush's proposal to privatize Social Security would in fact worsen the retirement program's future financial solvency. U.S. Comptroller General and Social Security Trustee David Walker, appearing before the House Ways and Means Committee, said that diverting money from the Social Security Trust Fund into private stock market accounts "would exacerbate the solvency problem."

NEA supports strengthening Social Security for current and future generations. But private accounts would undercut the program's solvency, reduce guaranteed benefits by as much as 40 percent, and saddle generations to come with trillions of dollars in debt.

Action Needed

We must do our part to let our elected officials know that private accounts are wrong and would jeopardize the nation's most successful anti-poverty program. What can you do?

• Join the more than 34,000 teachers, education support professionals and others who have signed NEA's petition  to save Social Security as a lifeline for the vulnerable. Urge your Senators and Representative to:
  • Oppose any effort to privatize Social Security
  • Ensure that public employees who are enrolled in and have paid into other retirement security plans are not mandated to participate in Social Security, and
  • Repeal the Government Pension Offset and Windfall Elimination Provision (GPO/WEP), unfair provisions that deny earned Social Security benefits to many public employees.
• Find out if your Representative is one of the 213 who has signed on to H.R. 147 -- the full GPO/WEP repeal bill. If not, urge him or her to do so.
• E-mail this page (see link at the bottom of the page) to family members, friends and colleagues, and urge them to sign the petition.

Senators Act Against Mandatory Social Security Participation

Eleven members of the U.S. Senate, led by Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and George Voinovich (R-OH), wrote a letter  last week to the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, asking that Social Security reform not mandate that all public employees participate in the retirement program. Teachers and education support professionals in 12 states (AK, CA, CO, CT, IL, KY, LA, MA, ME, MO, NV, OH) as well as selected districts in three additional states (GA, RI, TX) do not pay into Social Security. Instead, these states maintain separate retirement systems for educators.

NEA opposes mandatory participation because it would be detrimental to teachers and other public employees, it would create financial burdens for states and city governments, and it would weaken existing state and local retirement plans that often offer benefits superior to Social Security.

A big thanks to Senators Feinstein and Voinovich and their colleagues: Kit Bond (R-MO), Chris Dodd (D-CT), Mike DeWine (R-OH), Dick Durbin (D-IL), James Inhofe (R-OK), Ted Kennedy (D-MA), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Barack Obama (D-IL) and Ken Salazar (D-CO).

3/4/05
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Prepare To Call on March 8 for a Fair Budget!

National Budget Call-In Day Is March 8

NEA is part of a growing grassroots coalition that will participate in a national call-in day to Congress on Tuesday, March 8 , to let lawmakers know that President Bush's budget proposal does not protect the vulnerable and, if approved by Congress, would result in higher state and local taxes and fees.

While the long-term consequences of the President's budget proposal are becoming clearer -- for instance, overall funding for the major elementary and secondary education programs would be reduced by $11.5 billion from 2006 to 2010 and by $4.6 billion, or 14 percent, in 2010 alone -- advocates for children, the elderly, veterans and others who don't have a voice in government are making their case to Congress. Also, 48 federal education programs are eliminated, and $500 million is designated for a merit pay scheme for teachers. See how the budget proposal affects education.

As House and Senate Budget committees begin their consideration, we need to tell our Senators and Representatives that we are counting on them to produce a responsible budget resolution that maintains services to children and the elderly, keeps our communities strong and accomplishes deficit reduction in a fair and balanced manner.

Action Needed

Call 1-800-247-2971 on March 8 to urge your Members of Congress to write a fair and responsible budget resolution!

• Ask to be connected to your Senators and Representatives or call the U.S. Capitol switchboard directly at 202-224-3121.

• Don't be discouraged if the lines are busy; we want calls to pour into the offices! You can also find your Senators' direct line at www.senate.gov or your Representative's direct line at www.house.gov.

Tell your members of Congress:

• Don't eliminate programs such as Vocational Education, Safe and Drug Free Schools, education technology grants, community technology centers, Upward Bound, Talent Search and GEAR UP. We are deeply concerned about cuts to programs that protect the vulnerable.

• Don't make deep cuts in domestic discretionary programs. These cuts would result in a significant loss of support for public schools, veterans' medical care, health care, law enforcement, environmental protection, and other important services that affect millions of people. We support a budget that is fair and that invests in America's communities to help rebuild them.

The More People Know About Privatization, the Less They Like It

Fresh on the heels of new independent polling information that reveals the more people know about President Bush's proposal to privatize Social Security the more they oppose it, the Administration yesterday announced that it will embark on a 60-day, 60-stop sales blitz to build public support for the proposal to allow Social Security funds to be diverted to private stock market accounts.

The President, Vice President and other Administration officials take the sales show to 29 states beginning today. The Madison Avenue-style road tour will be complemented by an aggressive $20 million marketing campaign led by the financial services industry and by a ramped-up, back-home effort by congressional supporters during Congress' spring recess, March 19-April 3.

NEA supports strengthening Social Security to ensure it remains a long-term lifeline, especially for the most vulnerable: children, the elderly, widowers and disabled recipients of survivor and disability benefits.  A 2001 study by the General Accounting Office, Congress' independent research arm, found that any Social Security plan that included private accounts would result in reduced benefits for the disabled. Currently, 20 percent of retirees rely on Social Security for every penny of their income. Another two-thirds receive half or more of their income from Social Security. NEA opposes any effort to privatize Social Security, the nation's most trusted and successful anti-poverty program.

Your voice and that of scores like you from every part of the nation are making the difference. In light of the privatization wall-to-wall sales blitz, it's more critical than ever that you let your Member of Congress know that private stock market accounts would hurt the vulnerable among us and that they reflect the wrong priorities. 

Action Needed

Join the more than 30,000 teachers, education support professionals and others who have signed NEA's petition to save Social Security. Urge your Senators and Representative to:

• Oppose any effort to privatize Social Security

• Ensure that public employees who are enrolled in and have paid into other retirement security plans are not mandated to participate in Social Security, and

• Repeal the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP), unfair provisions that deny earned Social Security benefits to many public employees.

• Find out if your Representative is one of the 203 who has signed on to H.R. 147--  the GPO/WEP repeal bill.  If not, urge him or her to do so.

Bill Targets Tax Credit to Educators in Disadvantaged Schools

Teachers, education support professionals, principals and counselors who work full time in disadvantaged schools would be eligible for a $2,000 tax credit if a bill (H.R. 986) introduced in the House last month becomes law.

Congresswoman Heather Wilson (R-NM) introduced the Teacher Tax Credit Act of 2005 to provide an important incentive for good teachers to consider disadvantaged schools.  The bill has the backing of Congressman John Boehner (R-OH), chairman of the House Education Committee, and already has 34 cosponsors.

Wilson's bill provides a $2,000 non-refundable tax credit for teachers, instructors, counselors, principals and aides who teach or work full time in a Title I elementary or secondary school, that is, a school with a 40 percent or more student population that is eligible for the federal lunch program.

NEA supports this bipartisan bill because it seeks to help schools in low-income rural and urban areas attract and retain teachers.

Action Needed

• Contact your Representative and urge him or her to help America's teachers educate the kids who need them most by becoming a cosponsor of H.R. 986.