Federal Legislative Update
September 2003

September 26, 2003
September 15, 2003

9/26/03

News from Capitol Hill...

Voucher alert! NEA halts false 'fixes'

A voucher plan for the District of Columbia public schools erupted in controversy on the Senate floor this week. NEA members — speaking clearly — brought to a crashing halt efforts to apply a patch to a bad bill.

Senators Carper (D-DE) and Landrieu (D-LA) were ready to concede the fundamental issue — taxpayer-paid vouchers for private schools — in return for "improvements" to the bill. NEA made clear the "fixes" were like putting lipstick on a pig, and action on the bill halted.

The debate continues today. Stay alert for possible votes next week.

Send a message to Congress - "Do the right thing for DC children. Vote 'NO' to vouchers."

• Vouchers do nothing to help students in the District of Columbia. Research clearly demonstrates that vouchers do little to improve student achievement.
• Congress should focus on real solutions such as early childhood education, smaller class sizes, up-to-date materials, and high teacher quality to ensure every student a great public school.

The House Squeaker: The voucher bill squeaked through the House by a vote of 209-208, after House leaders tracked down and summoned back an absent member celebrating his birthday in order to find the passing vote.

Hail to the Mayor: The voucher supporters' mantra in this Congress: "The Mayor wants it!" The city does not, however, according to recent polling and the opposition of a bevy of elected city officials.

Ads in your neighborhood? The deep pockets of pro-voucher groups are funding ads targeted to local members of Congress in communities across the country. Are voucher groups running ads in your community?

Send your message to Congress today!

NEA National Day to Repeal Social Security Offsets -- October 1, 2003

NEA leaders from across the country will be on Capitol Hill on October 1 urging Congress to repeal laws that reduce Social Security benefits of public employees.

Join the action. Tell Congress: "Don't penalize public service."

• Call 1-800-818-6030 Toll-Free
• Hear a message from NEA President Reg Weaver
• When instructed, enter your ZIP Code and at the sound of the beep, record your brief message for your Member of Congress. Your recorded message will be forwarded to Capitol Hill.
• The 24-hour, 7-day toll-free line enables members to call at any time without conflicting with school schedules.

Senate Hearing a First: NEA member advocates won a long-sought Senate committee hearing on the GPO (Government Pension Offset) and WEP (Windfall Elimination Provisions) Social Security offsets. The September 24 hearing reflects a heightened awareness of the issue in the Congress.

NEA applauded Senator Susan Collins' (R-ME) efforts to address the unfair reduction of earned Social Security benefits for thousands of school employees and other public servants. NEA opposes the unfair offsets and offered testimony advocating their full repeal

This year, for the first time, NEA member advocates won hearings in both the Senate and the House (May 1). Attention to the issue in congressional hearings is important to leveraging congressional action.

The September 24 hearing serves to set the stage for the NEA National Day To Repeal the Social Security Offsets, October 1. Educators are asking members of Congress to support passage of H.R. 594 (McKeon (R-CA), Berman (D-CA)) and S. 349 (Feinstein (D-CA) and Collins (R-ME)), which would eliminate both the GPO and the WEP. To date, 262 Representatives and 24 Senators from both parties have co-signed the bills.

NEA applauds sensible gun safety legislation

NEA applauds efforts in Congress to close loopholes in criminal background check laws and to protect our children by keeping guns out of the wrong hands.

The database for gun-purchaser criminal background checks is woefully incomplete, allowing tens of thousands of prohibited buyers to obtain guns. NEA urges swift passage of the newly introduced National Instant Criminal Background Check System Improvement Act of 2003. This sensible legislation supports enhancing the database and allowing the system to function effectively.

9/15/03
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News from Capitol Hill...

Voucher plan squeaks by House; controversy erupting in Senate

A voucher plan for the District of Columbia public schools squeaked through the House by a vote of 209-208. The House leadership held the vote open for more than 40 minutes - a tactic that veteran observers hadn't seen in a decade - to track down and summon back an absent member celebrating his birthday in order to find the passing vote. Find your Representative's vote.

NEA applauds Representatives who chose to do the right thing for D.C. children by voting "No" to vouchers. They merit special thanks.

Round two - On to the Senate

Action by the full Senate could come as early as the week of September 15. The Senate bill provides $13 million to serve just 2,000 voucher students and another $13 million to serve 75,000 public school students - the mathematics of misplaced priorities.

Tell your U.S. Senators, "Do the right thing. Oppose D.C. vouchers."

• Vouchers do nothing to help students in the District of Columbia. Research clearly demonstrates that vouchers do little to improve student achievement.
  
• Congress should focus on real solutions such as early childhood education, smaller class sizes, up-to-date materials and high teacher quality to ensure every student a great public school.
  
• Most of the dramatic improvements in student achievement have occurred where vouchers do not exist - in communities in North Carolina, Connecticut and Chicago that focused on teacher quality and extra help for students.

IDEA funding win

NEA applauds the U.S. Senate for adding significant resources to programs that educate the nation's special-needs children.

While the voucher drama was playing out in the House, the Senate was embroiled in debate on labor, health and education spending. The Dodd Amendment to the Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations bill more than doubled the House-passed increase in state grant funds for a total of $2.2 billion, the level promised by Congress in the April 2003 Budget Resolution. Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) offered the amendment with Senators Chuck Hagel (R-NE) and Jim Jeffords (I-VT), all strong advocates for raising the federal contribution to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the nation's special education law.

IDEA serves more than 6 million children. Currently, the federal government provides less than half the funding it committed to in 1975 when Congress first passed IDEA. While there have been significant increases in IDEA funding in recent years, the chronically underfunded federal share forces local communities to find alternate resources, such as higher property taxes, and forces schools to cut back other programs.

Next Steps: Conference Committee - The Senate-passed and the earlier House-passed Labor-HHS-Appropriations bills for Fiscal Year 2004 (October 1, 2003 - September 30, 2004) that fund education spending now move to Conference Committee. Stay tuned!

When the Senate version of the IDEA reauthorization bill (S. 1248) - now waiting in the wings - comes before the full Senate, Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Chuck Hagel (R-NE) are expected to offer an amendment providing a guaranteed progression to full funding of the promised 40 percent federal share.

GPO/WEP repeal bills -- Co-sponsor news

NEA is pressing for action on repeal of the Government Pension Offset/Windfall Elimination Provision (GPO/WEP), the Social Security offsets that unfairly penalize many public employees, including many teachers and education support professionals.

The co-sponsor lists continue to grow. H.R. 594, the McKeon (R-CA)-Berman (D-CA) repeal bill, now has 261 co-sponsors plus one non-voting. S. 349, the Feinstein (D-CA)-Collins (R-ME) Senate bill, has 23 co-sponsors.

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