The following is a press release from Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee, reacting to deep cuts in the funding bill proposed by House Republicans for federal programs in education, health, labor, and human services. The Title I funding program, which supports schools serving low-income students, is subject to a draconian cut which could lead to layoffs of 220,000 teachers. Every other program sustains cuts. Though not mentioned here, the federal Charter Schools Program received additional funding, one of the few to escape the Tepunlican axe.,
From: House Appropriations Democrats <DemApprops.Press@mail.house.gov>
Sent: Thursday, July 13, 2023 10:04 AM
Subject: House Republican Funding Bill Kicks Teachers Out of Classrooms, Takes Away Job Opportunities, and Harms Women and Children
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 13, 2023
Contact:
House Republican Funding Bill Kicks Teachers Out of Classrooms, Takes Away Job Opportunities, and Harms Women and Children
In the midst of a teacher shortage, Republicans are kicking more than 220,000 teachers from classrooms.
WASHINGTON — House Appropriations Committee Republicans today released the draft fiscal year 2024 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies funding bill, which will be considered in subcommittee tomorrow. The legislation is an assault on education and job training, decimates research funding, and abandons ongoing public health crises.
For 2024, the bill provides $163.0 billion, a cut of $63.8 billion – 28 percent – below 2023. This year’s Republican allocation was the lowest for the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies bill since 2008. The legislation:
- Decimates support for children in K-12 elementary schools and early childhood education.
- Abandons college students and low-income workers trying to improve their lives through higher education or job training.
- Stifles lifesaving biomedical innovation by cutting funding for cancer research, mental health research, and neurological research, and by slashing funding for advanced research projects intended to develop new cures and therapies.
- Surrenders to ongoing public health crises in mental health, opioid use, HIV/AIDS, and health disparities.
- Harms women’s health by cutting programs that support maternal and child health, eliminating programs that provide access to health services and contraception, and adding numerous partisan and poison pill riders related to abortion and reproductive health.
“When 161 House Republicans voted earlier this year to eliminate all K-12 funding at the Department of Education, I was horrified, but that was just the beginning. Now, in the midst of a teacher shortage, they have introduced a bill that would kick 220,000 teachers from classrooms. We are witnessing a widespread attack on public education that should horrify all of us” Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03) said. “Regardless of age or stage in life, this bill means you cannot count on government for any help. It limits women’s access to abortion while stripping maternal health services and making diapers more expensive. It decimates access to preschool, education, and job training. People can only hope they do not get cancer or need mental health services—you will not find support from House Republicans. These awful cuts will make it very hard for people and should not even be considered by this committee.”
Key provisions included in the draft fiscal year 2024 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies bill are below. The text of the draft bill is here. The subcommittee markup will be webcast live and linked on the House Committee on Appropriationswebsite.
The 2024 funding bill:
Department of Education (ED) – The bill includes a total of $57.1 billion in discretionary appropriations for ED, a cut of $22.5 billion – 28 percent – below the FY 2023 enacted level. Of this amount:
- The bill includes $3.7 billion for Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies, a cut of $14.7 billion below the FY 2023 enacted level. This cut could force a nationwide reduction of 220,000 teachers from classrooms serving low-income students.
- The bill eliminates funding for English Language Acquisition, a cut of $890 million that would remove vital academic support for 5 million English learners nationwide.
- The bill eliminates funding for Title II-A (Supporting Effective Instruction State Grants), a cut of $2.2 billion below the enacted level.
- The bill eliminates funding for Promise Neighborhoods, a cut of $91 million below the enacted level.
- The bill eliminates funding for Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) grants within the Education Innovation and Research program, a cut of $87 million below the enacted level.
- The bill eliminates funding for Magnet Schools, a cut of $139 million below the enacted level.
- The bill includes $100 million forFull-Service Community Schools, a cut of $50 million below the enacted level.
- The bill fails to provide an increase for the maximum Pell Grant award for the first time since 2012.
- The bill eliminates funding for Federal Work Study, a cut of $1.2 billion that would eliminate work-based assistance to 660,000 students nationwide
- The bill eliminates funding for Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants, a cut of $910 million that would eliminate need-based financial aid for 1.7 million students nationwide
- The bill includes $1.8 billion for Student Aid Administration, a cut of $265 million below the enacted level.
- The bill eliminates funding for Teacher Quality Partnerships, a cut of $70 million below the enacted level.
- The bill eliminates funding for Child Care Access Means Parents in School, a cut of $75 million below the enacted level.
- The bill eliminates funding for Hawkins Centers of Excellence, a cut of $15 million below the enacted level.
- The bill eliminates funding for HBCU, TCU, and MSI Research and Development Infrastructure Grants, a cut of $50 million below the enacted level.
- The bill includes $105 million for theOffice for Civil Rights, a cut of $35 million below the enacted level.
Department of Labor (DOL) – The bill includes a total of $9.1 billion in discretionary appropriations for DOL, a cut of $4.7 billion – 34 percent – below the FY 2023 enacted level. Of this amount:
- The bill eliminates funding for WIOA Adult Job Training state grants, a cut of $886 million that would eliminate job training and employment services for 300,000 adults who face barriers to employment.
- The bill eliminates funding for WIOA Youth Job Training state grants, a cut of $948 million that would eliminate job training and employment services for 128,000 youth who face barriers to employment.
- The bill eliminates funding for Job Corps, a cut of $1.8 billion that would eliminate job training and employment services for 50,000 youth who face barriers to employment.
- The bill eliminates funding for the Senior Community Service Employment Program, a cut of $405 million that would eliminate community service positions for more than 40,000 low-wage seniors.
- The bill includes $1.4 billion for theWorker Protection Agencies at the Department of Labor, a cut of $313 million below the enacted level, including—
- $153 million for the Employee Benefits Security Administration, a cut of $38 million below the enacted level
- $185 million for the Wage and Hour Division, a cut of $75 million below the enacted level
- $537 million for theOccupational Safety and Health Administration, a cut of $95 million below the enacted level
- The bill includes $98 million for theOffice of the Solicitor, a cut of $33 million below the enacted level.
- The bill eliminates funding for theBureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB), a cut of $116 million below the enacted level.
- The bill eliminates funding for theWomen’s Bureau, a cut of $23 million below the enacted level (including elimination of the Women in Apprenticeship & Nontraditional Occupations program).
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) – The bill includes a total of $103.7 billion for HHS, a cut of $17.4 billion – 14 percent – below the FY 2023 enacted level. Of this amount:
- National Institutes of Health (NIH) – The bill includes a total of $44.6 billion for NIH, a cut of $2.8 billion below enacted level, including:
- $7.1 billion for the National Cancer Institute (NCI), a cut of $216 million below the enacted level
- $2.7 billion for the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), a cut of $139 million below the enacted level
- $2.2 billion for the National Institute of Mental Health(NIMH), a cut of $139 million below the enacted level
- $5.1 billion for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), a cut of $1.5 billion below the enacted level
- Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) – The bill includes $500 million for ARPA-H, a cut of $1 billion below the enacted level.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) – The bill includes a total of $7.6 billion for CDC, a cut of 1.6 billion below the enacted level.
- The bill eliminates funding for Firearm Injury and Mortality Prevention Research, a cut of $12.5 million below the enacted level
- The bill eliminates funding for Tobacco Prevention and Control, a cut of $247 million below the enacted level
- The bill eliminates funding for the Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative, a cut of $220 million below the enacted level
- The bill includes $100 million forPublic Health Infrastructure and Capacity, a cut of $250 million below the enacted level
- The bill includes $75 million forPublic Health Data Modernization, a cut of $100 million below the enacted level
- The bill includes $371 million forGlobal Health, a cut of $322 million below the enacted level
- The bill eliminates funding for the Climate and Health program, a cut of $10 million below the enacted level
- The bill eliminates funding for the Center for Forecasting and Analytics, a cut of $50 million below the enacted level
- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) – The bill funds SAMHSA at $7.1 billion, a cut of $234 million below the enacted level.
- Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) – The bill includes $7.3 billion for HRSA, a cut of more than $700 million below the enacted level. (The comparison does not include Community Project Funding included in the FY 2023 enacted bill.)
- The bill eliminates funding for Title X Family Planning, a cut of $286 million below the enacted level
- The bill includes $781 million for the Maternal and Child Health Block Grant, a cut of $35 million below the enacted level
- The bill eliminates funding for Healthy Start, a cut of $145 million below the enacted level
- The bill eliminates funding for the Ending HIV Epidemic initiative, a cut of $220 million below the enacted level
- The bill eliminates funding for multiple programs to support diversity in the healthcare workforce, including—
- Health Careers Opportunity Program($16 million)
- Centers of Excellence($28 million)
- Nursing Workforce Diversity ($24 million)
- Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) – The billeliminates funding for AHRQ, a cut of $374 million below the enacted level.
- Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) – The bill includes a total of $3.3 billion for CMS administrative expenses, a cut of $798 million below the enacted level.
- Administration for Children and Families (ACF) – The bill provides $28.3 billion for ACF, a cut of $4.8 billion below the enacted level.
- The bill includes a total of $11.2 billion for Head Start, a cut of $750 million below the enacted level. This cut would result in more than 50,000 children losing access to Head Start programs.
- The bill eliminates funding for Preschool Development Grants, a cut of $315 million below the enacted level
- The bill includes $457 million for refugee programs, includingTransitional and Medical Services and Refugee Support Services, a cut of $414 million below the enacted level
- The bill includes $2.25 billion for the Unaccompanied Children program, a cut of $3.3 billion below the enacted level.
- Administration for Community Living (ACL) – The bill includes $2.5 billion for ACL, a cut of $22 million below the enacted level.
- Office of the Secretary—General Departmental Management – The bill includes $344 million for GDM, a cut of $258 million below the enacted level.
- The bill eliminates funding for the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program, a cut of $108 million below the enacted level
- The bill includes $26 million for the Office of Minority Health, a cut of $49 million below the enacted level.
- The bill includes $28 million for the Minority HIV/AIDS Initiative, a cut of $24 million below the enacted level.
- The bill includes $20 million for the Office on Women’s Health, a cut of $49 million below the enacted level.
Related Agencies –
- The bill eliminates funding for theCorporation for Public Broadcasting, a cut of $595 million below the enacted level.
- The bill includes $661 million for theCorporation for National and Community Service, a cut of $652 million below the enacted level.
- The bill includes $200 million for theNational Labor Relations Board, a cut of $99 million below the enacted level.
- The bill includes $13.8 billion for theSocial Security Administration, a cut of $183 million below the enacted level.
Policy Riders –
- The bill includes multiple policy riders to block the Department of Labor from implementing regulatory changes that would improve working conditions for workers in various industries.
- The bill includes a prohibition on funding to conduct or support research using fetal tissue.
- The bill includes a prohibition on funding for Planned Parenthood health centers.
- The bill includes multiple policy riders to block access to abortion services or reproductive healthcare services.
- The bill includes multiple policy riders to block the Biden Administration’s policies to ensure nondiscrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation.
- The bill includes a rider to amend the Public Health Service Act to create a right to monetary damages in a civil action for a violation of the Weldon amendment (which allows health care providers to discriminate against patients by refusing to provide, pay for, cover, or refer for abortion).
- The bill includes a rider to block the Department of Education from issuing a final rule to prevent sex discrimination and sex-based harassment at schools or a final rule to clarify how all students can participate in athletics.
- The bill includes multiple riders to block the Department of Education from implementing regulations related to student loans and income-driven repayment.
- The bill includes a rider to prevent the NLRB from implementing a rule related to Joint Employer status.
- The bill includes a rider to block funding related to Critical Race Theory.
- The bill includes multiple riders to prevent policies or programs intended to promote diversity, equity, or inclusion.
- The bill includes a rider to block funding to take action against a person who opposes marriage equality.
- The bill includes a rider to limit which flags can be flown over a federal facility.
###
Of course it does. This follows logically from massive cuts in taxes for the wealthy. Note, however, that these necessities only arise when the party of the big tax cut is out of the White House. See a pattern?
When people elect the GOP to represent them, they should realize they only represent the interests of the ultra-wealthy. As for those they are supposed to stand up for, the attitude from the GOP is “let them eat cake.”
The GOP gets the most votes from people who need government assistance. The poorest and least educated. Southern states have high poverty levels, and they vote Republican.
They fall for culture war issues about race, gays, soft on crime.
Doug Schoen and Scott Rasmussen (founded Rasmussen polling which is the subject of an investigative report by Huffpo today) co-wrote a book aimed at legitimizing the Tea Party. Schoen was key to the political rise of Catholic priest Louis Giante in New York. While at Harvard, Schoen was given credit for getting Giante a position teaching a 6-week course at the school’s Kennedy Institute of Politics (NYT, 2-21-1974). Those who read Schoen’s entry at Wikipedia won’t find Giante identified as a priest. However the link to the entry for Giante does provide the info. along with the info. that Father Giante had 3 homes and a $7 mil. estate which he left to his son. Wikipedia explains that Giante’s brothers were in the Genovese crime syndicate and that some of the projects that Giante financially benefitted from, also enriched his brothers.
Schoen is listed as attending a $60,000 a year private school, Horace Mann.
Media report that Michael Cohen solicited a donation from Schoen for the Trump Foundation, an amount that was the largest amount he received that year. Allegedly, the money came from oligarch, Pinchuk.
Independent, 12-2022, “Mafia-linked priest’s secret son inherits secret fortune.” Critics described Giante as a slum lord. “Of his father’s priesthood, the son said, ‘It was just like another quirky thing.”
Father Giante, “People think I don’t get paid and I’m a saint for doing it. That’s their problem…I didn’t take a vow of poverty.”
Linda,
Lest you think that child sex abuse is somehow a Catholic thing, read this story about Jehovah’s Witnesses.
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2023/07/09/us/jehovahs-witness-child-sex-abuse-pennsylvania/index.html
Linda,
Child sex abuse occurs among Jews and rabbis too: https://www.nj.com/education/2021/12/nj-rabbi-committed-horrific-acts-of-child-sex-abuse-while-jewish-organizations-did-nothing-lawsuits-say.html?outputType=amp
Are you talking about Louis Gigante? Yes, his brother Vincent “The Chin” Gigante (aside: I’ve always wanted a mafia sobriquet) was boss of the Genovese crime family. Vincent was famous for feigning mental illness while running the Genovese family. His headquarters were on Sullivan Street in Greenwich Village; he could be seen wandering around the Village in a bathrobe with a couple of mob torpedos in tow.
In any event, yes, Louis Gigante was involved in housing in the South Bronx. If you drive on the Bruckner Expressway, you can see his name emblazoned on a building there.
My original point, however, is that their name is “Gigante.” Please forgive the digression.
Mark-
Thank you for the correction in spelling.
Diane,
Infrequently (not, never), I add a bit about priest pedophilia but, usually, my focus is the political aspects. For those who conflate my comments with Bob’s about religion and Greg’s, I’ll repeat, it is an honor because they are more knowledgeable than I am. (Please note I did not add the allegations of child abuse against Gigante in my comments.)
I understand that there will never be an argument that lands, involving the difference between religious groups that are 2-3 % of the population nor, an argument that distinguishes among the sects by the amount of political influence they have in driving the abortion bans, the discrimination against gays, the promotion of the school choice agenda, etc.
I appreciate that you allow me to report about the political activities. (And, if Bob, CBK and others want to write about religion, I’m happy you allow them to do so.) If Jefferson, in today’s climate, focused on what he meant by- the priest always aligns with the despot, Jewish rabbi’s may not be on his radar? Possibly, his concern might be Jehovah Witnesses or LDS, or his concern may be something bigger like a Leonard Leo SCOTUS, or a sect’s organizations that taxpayers have made the nation’s 3rd largest employer.
The nation is extremely fortunate to have you as the champion of democracy and public schools. And, all who read your blog ( a number in the millions) benefit for your sacrifice in hosting it and providing critical information. While I push forward with my message in hopes of reaching a new audience, because I think it’s important, I try to compartmentalize my perception of your resistance to it, in a place that allows me to continue. Each of us walks in our own shoes- sorry I’m ending with an unoriginal platitude.
I’m having a hard time understanding how child abuse in one case has anything to do with child abuse in another. Are you saying that abusive priests are reasoning, “some Rabbis and Jehovah’s Witnesses do it, therefore so will I”? Any apologist or distractor using whattaboutism only does so in order to not deal with subject at hand.
The Catholic Church, which has great wealth, is letting parishes throughout the world go “bankrupt” — treating them as franchisees in bad times as they treat them as brothers and sisters in faith in good times — rather than fulfill their moral, ethical, and legal obligations. They are going “bankrupt” because of centuries-long child abuse that has been hidden — in essence sanctioning — from public view until the last 50-60 years. Its doctrine condemns homosexuality as a sin, forcing hundreds of thousands or even many millions of gay children to live in fearful lies. They are picked on in schools, their bullies becoming scouts who identify the most vulnerable to make their abusers’ crimes easier. Not only do these children get abused, but many, not realizing they can live “out”, become priests and nuns who continue the cycle. Many perpetrators were subject to the same treatment when they were children. And on it goes because the official Church tries to cover them up in order to maintain this system.
This is systemic and has been well understood in private for centuries. Yet the faithful can justify moral firewalls to separate their faith from their church. Perhaps the Vatican should have a fire sale to get rid of the Vatican museum stash that would go a long way to pay outstanding legal judgments. What this has to do with some Jehovah’s Witnesses or rabbis escapes me.
Greg-
We see what silence encourages as the state Catholic Conferences usher in legislation that takes money from taxpayers for their schools.
In a thread to a prior post I quoted, in their own words, the rigid attitude of Catholic principals who oversaw Indian boarding schools in states like Oklahoma.
Today, we witness the unconscionable and authoritarian takeover of democracy in Ohio by the right wing Catholic governor (almost all other top elected state positions are held by those of the same sect). We see it in the unlimited vouchers, the denial of the right of citizens to elect a state Board of Education and, in Issue 1. Fast forward and nothing has changed since 1924, through the 70’s and 80’s, to current times, in terms of exploitation of the vulnerable by dogmatic Catholics in power. The attachment to Charles Koch will lead to a repeat of the Great Hunger in Ireland when 1,000,000 Irish starved to death.
People who claim to support public education and claim to oppose child abuse in schools have their chance to right the wrongs of past priest pedophilia and the conduct in the Indian boarding schools. They are squandering that chance NOW, and the only explanation is the same lack of sufficient conscience. Some of it is driven by fear. The cost of being fearless will never be lower than it is today.
Thank you for understanding the gravity of the situation and standing up.
Thank you for those responses, Diane. I am something of an expert on the subject, strictly anecdotally. I was raised in Protestant and Catholic traditions simultaneously, and also am daughter to a survivor of stepfather incest.
It is my observation that “incest” in the broad sense—i.e., committed by those who are trusted by other adults [either because they are parents, or professionals like drs & dentists, or priests/ ministers/ rabbis, or teachers or coaches or camp counselors]– and [crucially] who have private access to and influence over children—well, that’s where you’ll find those who engage in it. Those who have that impulse are drawn to those milieus.
They are almost always people who were molested themselves as children. They are typically men, but there are also women who, tho they may not engage in it in the flesh, convey seduction combined with psychological dominance which can do similar damage. These are typically women who were not physically violated, but had their childhoods robbed by a parent who treated them not as someone to protect, but rather as someone to make a quasi-partner. And there are similar men.
This is a human warping of the parental instinct, not restricted to religion. Many think it is more prevalent among Catholic priests because of an unhealthy suppression of the sexual drive caused by the celibacy vow. IMHO, they are simply more well-known for it because of their sect’s predilection for recording data on when/ where they relocate priests, which then can be traced back to congregational rumors/ complaints.
Ginny,
I am not Catholic. I think the demand for celibacy is absurd.
GregB—the cycle of abuse you ascribe to the Catholic church is exactly the same paradigm as in any family regardless of religion or no religion. I expect it is a much larger phenomenon than you imagine.
When my mom got her memories back late in life, none of us siblings doubted it. She had expressed all the symptoms of the incested child for as long as we’d known her. Physically: yo-yoing between obese and anorexic over the years; chronic systemic physical complaints that dominated for yrs then disappeared to be replaced by another. Intellectual rather than physical persona. Bringing young women who’d been abused into the household for nurturing. All males brought into the family as friends were “safe” priests or ministers.
She was perhaps a more easily-diagnosed case. But in the yrs after I understood what had happened to her (in my rage and sorrow), I visited many blogs of incest survivors. Their fave mantra was: “the only thing taboo about incest is talking about it.” This is a very widespread phenomenon.
Agree, Diane. It is socially counterintuitive for any parish priest. It seems to me something more appropriate to orders of monks that practice special rituals, such as vow of silence.
My favorite, wonderful Jesuit asst-parish priest in teen yrs, who remained a family friend for decades, explained it to me as, it allowed him to devote himself entirely to congregation, as he had no other family responsibilities.
But you wanna know the funny thing? [wish I could tell him this insight, but he passed away a couple of yrs ago]: he was also a PhD, professor in microbiology! He was not just a priest, but also a scientist and teacher!
I have to admit, his advice at all points in my life was flawless. But I think his idea as to why celibacy was a good thing for priests-in-general was cockeyed. Most priests don’t have that other big thing [scientist/ teacher] to occupy the space left by no mate/ family.
From wikipedia
Louis Robert Gigante (March 19, 1932 – October 19, 2022
Later investigation revealed that SEBCO and other construction projects in the Bronx enriched both Gigante – who died with at least three homes and a $7 million fortune – and members of the Genovese crime syndicate, including Gigante’s brothers.[8] Other accusations range from Gigante being a slumlord to him being too old to manage such a large project.
On July 30, 2021, it was reported that Gigante sexually abused a nine-year-old boy on multiple occasions during the mid-1970s while working at St. Athanasius Church.[1][10]Another lawsuit filed the same year alleged that he sexually assaulted a girl in the early 1960s.[1] Both cases were at the New York Supreme Court (the state’s trial court) and not yet decided at the time of his death.[1]
Gigante died on October 19, 2022, at age 90.
Thank Jersey Joe. Not terribly surprising news.
Schoen, known as Dougie to his friends, was the media consultant to the Louisiana Coalition Against Racism and Naziism, an organization formed in 1989 to stop David Duke’s rise. He put together the ads featuring good old boy WWII vets saying they’d be damned if they were going to vote for a Nazi for the Senate. Interesting that if he could go back in time, he’d actually be working against the Coalition.
It would be interesting to know what percentage of graduates of expensive private schools like Horace Mann
reach the end of their lives having exploited significant numbers of vulnerable people.
Schoen may have seen his soul mate in Gigante back in the 70’s. Gigante said at the time, “One of the reasons I’m in politics is to become a political boss.”
Schoen may be a man who capitalizes on opportunities for himself.
Who are these people!? (Rhetorical)
How can these “representatives” be so completely without common decency or care for their constituents–except as the said constituents can be treated as mere voting instruments?
ThomasGoff– You have to ask what they’re telling their constituents that makes this OK. It’s gotta be something like, “you’re not getting this, so why should “they”?
Or maybe, “dump all this crap & you’re fed taxes will go down 25%.” Have to wonder whether the low-income people that buy into that line’s lives would be any better if their already-minimal taxes were reduced by 25%…
Maybe they would, as long as SNAP or TANF or Soc Sec are not on the line…
Folks in those poor states aren’t likely to imagine any benefits they’d get from fed taxes that might improve their water quality or public health or job training access or kids’ K12 ed [Title I] or etc… are they? I picture them all as resigned to a low QOL that has never, as far as they know, been improved by higher fed taxes… (sorry, feeling depressed by this article…)
Those Republicans also want to gift wrap all the dead in Ukraine and give that gift and their country to Putin while making Putin an honorary citizen of the United States/
Then they’d declare Putin a MAGA hero eligible for the United States Medal of Honor for his courage to murder Ukrainian children, their parents, grandparents et al.
In that citation to award Putin a US Medal of Honor for his courage to slaughter innocent people, they will also list the Russian citizens who fell out of windows in tall buildings after criticizing Putin’s courage.
Trump says he could end the war in 24 hours. Of course, he would call his good friend Vlad and cut off all aid to Ukraine.
Nice try at trolling, Vlad.
He’s an FS* bot!
*fake smarts = AI
I’ve never seen the movie Groundhog Day but think I know its basic plot. That’s the feeling I have reading this post. We’re back to normal. Just as Court decisions are now basic lawyers’ jobs bills, this bill has injected energy into moribund advocacy organizations, especially if they have offices or consultants in DC.
As I write this, people representing every issue under the sun are busily working on talking points, draft letters to the editor, compiling lists identifying members with their elected reps, it’s all running on auto drive now. Some of them will have lobby days in DC to send their folks in to let them know how their issue is the most important in the world and existential. It’s the same story any congressional staffer will hear about a dozen times a day, all from differing issues perspectives. It’s the same old, same old. The same old political fights, the same old doing nothing until Christmas (months after it should have been done), and some irrelevant issue having nothing to do with anything will take up all the oxygen of public attention.
I know this because it was once my life for decades. Instead of changing the narrative, education advocates will fall into the same trap of being one of many constituencies fighting for relevance. See post above for evidence. They will be one issue of thousands rather than one of national importance. And we will rinse and repeat this process beginning in about a year from now. And the year after that, and the year after that…
You should see Groundhog Day, it’s a great movie.
Face it. Republicans only operate from their lizard brain. We can’t afford to take care of ordinary citizens because our deficit is out of control. How did this deficit explode, mostly during Republican administrations? Republicans pushed massive tax cuts for the 1% while the benefactors padded their wallets. Republicans and too many Democrats gave the defense department a blank check while War profiteers decided it appropriate to take half of that money. We can’t afford to pay for basic services because politicians choose to give vast sums to wealthy donors. Recent history shows us that Republicans don’t care about the deficit, except to expand it, when they are in power. Pet projects for their oligarchs are what matter to them.
You described what I wrote as “railing.” Is what you wrote, truthful and factual to the best of your ability or, are you railing?
it wouldn’t be the first time I have been accused of going off the rails. However, the contributions Republican administrations have made to the federal debt doubles the contributions of Democratic presidents. It is also quite true that those who have benefited the most from the massive tax cuts perpetrated during the Reagan, George W Bush, and Trump administration’s are those in the top ten percent in wealth. I think the evidence clearly shows Republican priorities. So yes, facts that bring out my frustration.
Similar to me- “facts that bring out my frustration.” Dissimilar to me… commenters don’t mislabel in derogatory terms what you write.
Diane Ravitch, welfare has turned into a career opportunity where people get money for doing nothing.
Evidence? Like Ronald Reagan’s welfare queen who never existed.
Can’t the same be said for the Pentagon? A great deal of money is being spread throughout the Department of Defense that can’t pass a federal audit. I don’t know if you have ever worked in schools of poverty, but my experience with parents I encountered while serving such schools is that they don’t want “hand-outs.” We simply do not provide avenues for them to get out of the cyclical poverty they experience. Therefore, until we are actually willing to engage with poverty and attack its causes through wrap-around services that help individuals network toward independence we have to provide resources for living. Although I am not a fan of charters, I am fascinated by Lebron James’ approach to the school he formed in Cleveland. One of the tenets he established was to provide resources for parents to find careers. Now if we did this universally with our public schools in poverty (There are districts around the country that are following a similar model), we might actually see results.
What do you consider to be “welfare”? Please define. Thanks.
Well, here we are, folks. Reps get a moment in time with slim majority in House, and use it to prescribe… AUSTERITY. All will be well if we just cut spending by 25% — while continuing to hold the line on any tax increase whatsoever.
Hey, we have to do this, because BIDEN increased spending over the top because of the imaginary pandemic that didn’t really happen.
So we Republicans will get things back in balance by (a)refusing to EVER raise taxes, and (b)cutting all public goods expenditures by 25%.
We’ve seen how well that worked in Greece, right? [Failed state? What are you talking about?]
Or even closer to home: Kansas