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.