Federal Legislative Update
October 2005

October 28, 2005
October 21, 2005
October 7, 2005

10/28/05

News from Capitol Hill...

Vouchers Are at the Door . . . Stop Them Now

Thousands of calls, letters and e-mails this week to Senators and Representatives from you and other friends of children and public education have succeeded at holding at bay, at least for now, the first-ever national private school voucher program. But an all-out push for vouchers under the guise of helping Hurricane Katrina and Rita victims will intensify next week. Your continued pressure is of utmost importance!

Key lawmakers, such as Senators Alexander (R-TN), Dodd (D-CT), Enzi (R-WY), Kennedy (D-MA) and Landrieu (D-LA), and Representatives Boehner (R-OH) and Jindal (R-LA), are maneuvering to move vouchers through the legislative process as amendments to budget bills. In fact, this morning Representative Boehner, chairman of the House Education Committee, included the voucher proposal in the Education Committee bill he forwarded to the House Budget Committee despite the fact that the Education Committee voted yesterday, 21-26, against his voucher program.

Meantime, while certain lawmakers push their ideological agendas and play parliamentary hide-and-seek, students, teachers and education support professionals whose lives were devastated by Katrina and Rita continue to wait for federal relief. The drawn-out debate not only prolongs the hardship and suffering of hurricane victims, it is unnecessary because of a provision in existing federal law, called equitable participation, that allows public school districts to supply services, textbooks, equipment and transportation to private school children.

Act Now!

• Tell your Senators and Representative to oppose all forms of private school vouchers in any hurricane relief package that is part of a budget reconciliation or appropriations bill. The legal mechanism to provide help to public and private school students affected by Hurricane Katrina already exists. Vouchers are unnecessary and ineffective.
• Call your Senators and Representative at 202-224-3121. Be patient and persistent.
• Forward this e-mail to your colleagues, family members and neighbors.

Stand Up for Children, the Elderly, the Disabled and College Students

House and Senate Republican leaders, with the active support of the Bush Administration, are going full-steam ahead with their effort to cut $50 billion from critical social safety net programs for children, the elderly, the disabled and college students to pay for $70 billion in tax breaks. Tell your Senators and Representative that Medicare, Medicaid, college student aid and food stamps should be given priority over tax breaks.

If included in the budget reconciliation bill, the legislation would be the single largest cut in the history of student aid programs. The typical student would pay $5,800 more for college loans by charging student borrowers higher fees, raising student loan interest rate caps and raising rates on consolidation loans. And children, poor elderly citizens and individuals with disabilities would be subjected to across-the-board cuts to Supplemental Security Income for poor elderly and persons with disabilities, foster care, child care, child support enforcement, food stamps and Medicaid.

Help the Poor and Vulnerable; Stop Tax Cuts

• Tell your Senators and Representative to oppose any budget reconciliation bill that pays for tax breaks by cutting $50 billion in social safety net programs for children, the elderly, persons with disabilities and college students.
• Call your Senators and Representative at 202-224-3121.

10/21/05
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News from Capitol Hill...

Tell Congress to Help Katrina Victims, Oppose Vouchers

Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN), in coordination with Senators Michael Enzi (R-WY), Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and Christopher Dodd (D-CT), introduced legislation (S. 1904) yesterday that would provide private school vouchers to families displaced by Hurricane Katrina. The bill comes on the heels of legislation (H.R. 4097) introduced October 18 by Representatives John Boehner (R-OH) and Bobby Jindal (R-LA) that has vouchers as its centerpiece.

Make your voice heard today! It has been two months since Katrina struck, yet students, educators and families whose lives were turned upside down continue to wait for desperately needed help while Congress engages in an ideological debate that is divisive and inappropriate. The debate is made all the more unnecessary because there is a provision in current law, called "equitable participation," that allows the public school system to supply services to private school children in need.

Meantime, while Congress puts forward a national voucher scheme that needlessly delays the return of stability to affected students, teachers, education support professionals and families, public schools are forced to resort to band-aid solutions that further deplete already overburdened budgets.

Act Now!

Tell your Senators and Representative to oppose S. 1904 and H.R. 4097. Students, educators and families struggling because of Hurricane Katrina need help, not divisive and drawn-out debates about private school vouchers.

House Weighs Historic Cuts to Student Aid

As part of the House Republican leadership's effort to pay for $70 billion in tax breaks, the House Education and Workforce Committee approved H.R. 609, a revised Higher Education Reauthorization Act with $8.7 billion in cuts to student aid. If passed by the House next week in the budget reconciliation package, the legislation will impose the single largest cut in the history of student aid programs.

The cuts would result in the typical student paying $5,800 more for college loans by charging student borrowers higher fees, raising student loan interest rate caps and raising rates on consolidation loans. The cuts would force students to delay or abandon their college educations.

Help College Students!

Tell your Representative to oppose a budget reconciliation bill that puts tax breaks ahead of the needs of our nation's students.

The Victory Is Yours (For Now)

In response to thousands of calls and e-mails, the U.S. House of Representatives decided October 19 not to vote on increasing cuts from $35 billion to $50 billion in vital social services, such as Medicaid, Medicare, school meals and food stamps. Your voice is making a difference.

It's not over, though. Next week, the House will try again to pay for $70 billion in tax cuts by voting on a package of across-the-board cuts to Supplemental Security Income for poor elderly and disabled persons, foster care, child care, child support enforcement, food stamps and Medicaid.

Stay tuned.

10/7/05
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News from Capitol Hill...

Tell Congress To Protect Student Aid,
Oppose Vouchers

In response to the rising costs of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the Bush Administration and Republican Senate and House budget leaders plan to move ahead with tax cuts while cutting funding for programs that help low- and middle-income families, including loans for college students.

Over the next two to three weeks, lawmakers in the House and Senate will decide whether to extend the tax cuts and which programs to cut and by how much. At the same time, the Administration and its allies continue to push for a $488 million voucher program aimed at private school students displaced by Katrina and Rita.

Members of Congress will be home next week during their week-long recess. Let them know that common-sense budget priorities do not place tax cuts above assistance to college students and others who need help. Along the same lines, urge them to oppose vouchers, which are ineffective and unnecessary and would disrupt urgently needed help for displaced students. If possible, schedule a meeting with your Member of Congress and some of your colleagues. Your voice is critical to passing a budget and hurricane education relief package that helps students and schools.

Action Needed

Tell your Senators and Representative to pass a Fiscal Year 2006 budget that funds the nation's priorities, such as student college loans, and does not include tax cuts that we can't afford. Urge them to oppose private school vouchers in any education relief package for students displaced by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.