Republicans against state aid
Senate Democrats (with the help of the only two remaining moderate Republicans: Collins and Snowe of Maine) broke a Republican filibuster of a bill to assist states in paying for Medicare and preventing the layoff of 300,000 teachers, police officers, firefighters, and other public employees. The Senate will vote to pass the bill today, and then the House will have to reconvene from their recess to pass it again with the Senate changes.
The bill doesn’t add a dime to the deficit. It is actually projected to reduce deficits by $1.4 billion over the next 10 years.
Virginia will receive $249.5 million for 3,800 jobs. I wonder whether Gov. McDonnell will refuse the money on principle? (UPDATE: Gov. McDonnell signed a letter urging Congress to pass the bill.)
UPDATE: The public supports it 60%-38%.
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August 8th, 2010 at 5:46 am
In related news:
Here in Kentucky yesterday I heard that their tax revenues are up significantly due to the improving economy. I would imagine that most states, hopefully including Virginia, are experiencing something similar. If this is true, then perhaps this will be the last round of assistance that states will need.
Personally I am a little torn on this whole aid to states issue. I guess I can live with it in the short term but at one point or another the faucet is going to have to be turned off.
August 8th, 2010 at 7:36 am
It is intended as a short-term stop-gap measure to tide cash-strapped state and local governments until the economy improves and tax revenues with it.
August 8th, 2010 at 3:46 pm
Yeah, but I am still torn. Why during the downturn were/are private employees the only ones expected to endure suffering? While I kept my job, my revenue was down significantly. I think I can honestly claim to have been putting in full time hours for part time wages last year.
Now I also understand the other side, and this is why I am torn. If significant numbers of government employees are also laid off, then the unemployment problem gets worse. Certain government employees such as teachers, law enforcement and fire fighters provide especially valuable services, and in fact probably are underpaid even during the best of times, if we are only going to lay them off temporarily only to rehire them once things improve (why were they on the payroll in the first place if they were unnecessary) it only adds needless, and actually costly, disruption. We did provide special assistance to many private employees with the bail out of the auto industry.
But I do know one thing. Now that things are improving I do not want to hear sales pitches that additional bail outs are necessary for some states, or at least not for California. California had huge budget problems before the recession and the citizens/politicians need to do some serious reform. Until they swallow hard and take the bitter pill, they would be a bottomless pit we would be shoveling money into.
If I am going to be perfectly honest, last year really didn’t turn out to be that bad a year for me. Yes, my earnings were horrible, but as I have explained on other threads, I purchased a new truck for my business. I got a tremendous discount, which would not have been available if it had not been for the recession. The discount was so deep I believe I saved as much on the purchase as I lost in income when you compare my earnings for 2009 to 2008.
August 9th, 2010 at 12:14 pm
Private employees are not “the only ones expected to endure suffering.” There have been budget cuts in public sector for the last decade. As positions were eliminated by attrition, remaining employees often accepted additional responsibilities without additional pay. Most have done without any pay increases for years. More recently, there have been layoffs.
I agree with you that “If significant numbers of government employees are also laid off, then the unemployment problem gets worse.” This bill will prevent the layoff of 300,000 people.
I also agree with you that “Certain government employees such as teachers, law enforcement and fire fighters provide especially valuable services,” although some would say these are not “real jobs.”
As you said, economic stimulus has also been used to support private sector jobs as well.
August 9th, 2010 at 5:33 pm
The so-called stimulus package did not produce any jobs.
Firemen and Police officers deserve every penny they get but the teachers are already overpaid. Many are on over $100k a year, have long vacations and do not produce results, because they are too busy brainwashing our kids into the Socialist agenda, instead of teaching them the 3 Rs. Most kids leave school unable to read and write past 6th Grade level and thank goodness a cash register tells them how much change to give! Education should go back to State control, lefty politics taken out of the curriculum and failing teachers fired.
August 10th, 2010 at 5:40 am
Molly: What is your source of misinformation?
“The so-called stimulus package did not produce any jobs?” Really? Not one? It actually produced between 600,000 and 1.6 million jobs. It also included one of the biggest tax cuts in history, benefiting 95% of working Americans. It did not receive a single House Republican vote.
The state aid bill (the topic of this post) will prevent the layoff of about 300,000 public servants (including an estimated 3,800 in Virginia). It was opposed by all but two Republican Senators.
“Many [teachers] are on over $100k a year?” Really? How many? In Virginia Beach, the salary range is $38,596-$65,585, with an average salary of $53,343 (below the $54,319 national average). Virginia Beach teachers have an average of 14.57 years of teaching experiance and 50% have earned graduate degrees. If you think they are “overpaid,” I suggest you try teaching 30 middle school students from a low-income neighborhood for a week and imagine trying to do it for 30 years.
Teacher’s “long vacations” during the summer are, in reality, unpaid leave. Teachers are actually seasonal employees, employed and paid for just 10 months of the year.
Prior to 1995, each local school board developed its own curriculum. The curriculum is now dictated by state SOLs (“the Socialist agenda?”) initiated by Republican Gov. Allen. “No Child Left Behind” (initiated by Republican President Bush) imposed national standards. All Virginia Beach schools are fully accredited based on student test scores.
August 10th, 2010 at 12:48 pm
UPDATE: The House passed the state aid bill along party lines 247-161.
Local Democrats Rep. Bobby Scott and Rep. Glenn Nye voted yes; local “party of no” Republicans Rep. Randy Forbes and Rep. Rob Wittman voted no.
At least one Virginia Republican elected official was in favor: Gov. McDonnell was one of 16 Republican Governors to sign a National Governor’s Association letter requesting Congress to pass it.
August 10th, 2010 at 3:20 pm
Please explain how the unemployment rate has gone up? And that does not account for those under employed or have given up looking.
Re the teachers, they indoctrinate kids with their lefty views despite any other regulations.
How are we to pay for all the over inflated retirement programs given to Government employees thanks to weak negotiating with unions? Notice it is all the Dem states that are broke. I don’t see why the rest of us should bail them out because they are incapable of understanding that 2+2 will never equal 5 no matter how much they would like it to.
August 10th, 2010 at 4:43 pm
Molly: Please explain how laying off 300,000 teachers, police officers, firefighters, and other public employees would have improved the unemployment rate.
August 16th, 2010 at 7:00 pm
What I love is one example I can give. I delivered a load of insulation to a small business man in Georgia a few months ago. Barack Obama had just appeared in Georgia (it made the national news) to tout the energy saving tax improvements tax credits contained in the stimulus bill. Due to the weak economy, it had been a few months since he had needed to bring a truck in to replenish his stock. In anticipation of demand, he placed his order and I showed up. I talked to this small business ownder personally and he griped that Barack hadn’t shown up on his side of Georgia. For some reason he refused to admit he and his few remaining employees might benefit from the stimulus even as he built up his available stock to take advantage of it.
August 26th, 2010 at 12:16 pm
David,
Read this, you might learn something.
http://americanvision.org/662/make-money-buy-socialism-see-happens/
e.g.
“…….. California. It used to be the most capitalist state in the USA. The people made lots of money, then they bought socialism with it, and as a result they didn’t have electricity.”
“the president of Venezuela warned his countrymen not to sing in the shower and wash in three minutes. The reason is power and water shortages in a country that has enormous oil reserves and has a humid tropical climate.”
Just five years before the Communist revolution, the “backward peasants” of Tsarist Russia exported more grain than all of Western Europe combined.
“Sweden, with more land per capita than any European country and stagnant population, manages to have housing shortages. ”
” The French healthcare system, the pride of the French government, experiences severe shortages of qualified physicians.”
“Germany has the same problem with computer specialists. ”
See a trend here?
August 26th, 2010 at 12:18 pm
David,
Educate yourself:-
http://americanvision.org/662/make-money-buy-socialism-see-happens/
e.g.
“…….. California. It used to be the most capitalist state in the USA. The people made lots of money, then they bought socialism with it, and as a result they didn’t have electricity.”
“the president of Venezuela warned his countrymen not to sing in the shower and wash in three minutes. The reason is power and water shortages in a country that has enormous oil reserves and has a humid tropical climate.”
Just five years before the Communist revolution, the “backward peasants” of Tsarist Russia exported more grain than all of Western Europe combined.
“Sweden, with more land per capita than any European country and stagnant population, manages to have housing shortages. ”
” The French healthcare system, the pride of the French government, experiences severe shortages of qualified physicians.”
“Germany has the same problem with computer specialists. ”
See a trend here?
August 26th, 2010 at 8:23 pm
What I see is a trend for some to despise the American Way. I think the trends show that the middle class is shrinking and America is increasingly starting to become a nation divided between the haves and the have-nots. Do you expect those who used to live in the middle class and who have now been ground into poverty to stay home on election day?
August 27th, 2010 at 9:30 am
Little David: Are you trying to incite the proletariat to a worker’s revolution?
Maybe Molly is right:
1) During Sen. McCain’s presidential campaign, his brother Joe called Northern Virginia “communist country.”
2) A statue of Stalin was recently erected in Bedford, Virginia.
October 15th, 2010 at 10:23 am
UPDATE: Apparently witnessing the presidential signing of this bailout bill isn’t enough to keep you employed – at least one of the three teachers present at the Oval Office in August has lost her job, since nary a dime of the $7.6 million intended to “save teachers’ jobs” in Toledo has been spent. Luckily for the teacher, the union rules require that she keeps her job for 45 days after receiving notice of her layoff, so she’ll be employed until November 15th (she received notice on October 1) even though the student population doesn’t support her being there.
The union rep laments that the bailout money wasn’t used to keep the teachers employed anyway, even though falling enrollment at the school indicated the need for 14 fewer teachers. Also touching is that the rep doesn’t grasp the irony of the situation, because, in fact, “Ms. VanNess was already laid off when the stimulus bill was signed” – that was the first time she was laid off this school year, nearing the end of summer vacation. Irony is always lost on the dim bulbs.
Amazingly, the Toledo Blade news report blames, in part, the parents of the schoolchildren for the layoffs. Reduced student population means less teachers are necessary. The article believes “Many parents pulled their children because of cuts to services.” Yeah, right. Give up a free public school education because the seventh-grade ping-pong team was eliminated? That’s like saying “No thanks” to a free steak dinner because a haircut and a back rub aren’t included in the deal.
Finally, the Toledo Superintendent is forecasting a $44 million shortfall in the budget next year. He’s “scoured the wording of the federal legislation for permissible uses beyond rehiring teachers” to try to find ways to spend the bailout money in other places to close that gap. Maybe new school construction projects (hopefully they’re shovel-ready). Maybe shoring up teacher pension programs. Maybe hiring more crossing guards. He might be able to save the ping-pong team. Anything but teachers, because the school doesn’t need them.
Maybe the “jobs” that were really intended to be saved by this round of government largesse were the Democrat lawmakers’ jobs?
People ask what’s wrong with bailouts and stimulus. Here in one local newspaper snapshot is pretty much everything that’s wrong with bailouts and stimulus.
October 15th, 2010 at 12:46 pm
Open Minded: According to the Toledo Blade article that you are apparently referring to: the teacher was laid off while the bill was being delayed by Republicans. She “fell prey to budget cuts designed to close a $39 million deficit last school year. About 400 employees, including 237 teachers, received pink slips. Student services were cut and bus service curtailed affecting about 5,000 students, and elimination of middle school and freshman sports.”
Meanwhile, here in Virginia, the federal aid requested by Gov. McDonnell has helped him to balance the state budget without raising taxes.
October 18th, 2010 at 6:22 am
David, it is significantly impressive how you can blame every ill on “the party of NO”. She was laid off to close a budget gap, almost immediately re-hired as a permanent substitute, and then laid off again when it was determined she’s not needed.
How do you explain and / or rationalize the line from the article that “With falling enrollment, 14 more teachers were let go”? I have no idea of the class sizes. But liberals like you are always quick to demagogue the evil politicians who want to fire teachers. Even when they’re not needed? The public school system has to pay this teacher for 45 days after she’s been terminated, but you don’t think that’s enough.
And, as for Governor McDonnell, I’m not proud of him requesting or accepting these federal funds. But, as was the case with Governor Palin accepting the federal money for the “bridge to nowhere”, I think you need to understand the dynamics at work. 49 other governors are holding their empty cup up to the federal faucet. With no control over the faucet, it is the governor’s job to fill our cup as best he can. If he did not accept this funding, you’d be crucifying him for putting his personal political ambition over the needs of the state. It is up to our idiot Representatives and Senators to turn off the faucet in order to save the Republic.