Burgess, Boehner, Kline, Issa vs. The NEA
According to this DC Examiner article, Michael Burgess just introduced a bill to restore the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program. The bill’s name is the DC Student Opportunity and Choice Act.
“The DC school voucher program has been undeniably successful for the student who have had the opportunity to participate, so it would make sense to continue the program and expand it to even more students in the District of Columbia,” Burgess said.
This is one of those rare times when great policy mixes with putting the Democrats in a difficult position. If they oppose this legislation, they’ll be rightly characterized as the NEA’s puppet. They’d also rightly be characterized as opposing a program that’s lifting education outcomes for inner city children. (I wouldn’t want to defend a vote that gives students a great opportunity to succeed in life.)
This bill would overwrite the language contained in the recent 1,000 page omnibus spending bill by a joint conference of a House and Senate Appropriations Committee awaiting the President’s signature that effectively ends private school choice in the city.
Co-sponsoring the legislation are Congressmen John Boehner (R-Ohio), John Kline (R-Minnesota), Darrell Issa (R-California), and Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-New Jersey).
Speaker Pelosi and President Obama, welcome to hell’s tiny corner — east of the rock, just barely to the west of the hard place. If I didn’t know better, I’d say that the “Party of No” just proposed a bill that would improve the lives of children growing up in abject poverty. Doesn’t that contradict the Democrats’ characterization that the Republicans’ agenda was just saying no all the time?
For years, the Democrats have catered to the wishes of the NEA. There’s emerging a group of savvy GOP politicians, both at the national, state and local levels, who have figured out that this is a winning issue for conservatives. Here in Minnesota, Mitch Berg has been outstanding on education issues, highlighting the shortcomings of the current public school system. Legislators like David Hann, Mark Buesgens and Steve Gottwalt are pushing for edcuation reform that focuses on educational outcomes in exchange for funding.
Saying that this isn’t part of EdMinn’s agenda is understatement. I’d be surprised if the NEA’s reaction to the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program isn’t privately met with disdain. (They don’t dare say that publicly out of fear for the political hit they’d take.) I’m betting that this bill gets a hearing and that it’s amended in committee to include one poison pill after another.
If the NEA and other special interests take that approach, the GOP should challenge them on that. I’d force the Democrats to defend their amendments to the bill.
I’m betting that it gets a hearing because Rep. John Kline is the ranking member of the House Education and Labor Committee. If Chairman Miller tries playing games with this, I’m confident that Rep. Kline can make life miserable for him.
With us heading into an election year, Democrats will be especially jumpy. They know that they’re in for a difficult year. Every time that they propose something foolish, I’d highlight the amendment. I’d force them to either withdraw the amendment out of embarassment or I’d make them regret their votes on foolish amendments, especially if they’re aimed at appeasing a special interest group.
Technorati Tags: Education, DC Scholarships, Mike Burgess, John Boehner, John Kline, Darrell Issa, Republicans, George Miller, NEA, EdMinn, Democrats, Election 2010
Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog
December 18th, 2009 at 7:41 pm
Speaking of “the party of No!”, when’s the last time the jackasses said anything nice about anything an elephant proposed? Last month? Last year? Last century? Before Reagan? I’d be surprised if anyone can remember.
And since they are so much in favor of actually being the “party of No!”, come next November it would be nice to put a big, fat NO! next to every jackass name on the ballot, donkey or elephant.
December 19th, 2009 at 1:01 am
The current state of education is one of the reasons we are burdoned with a morally illiterate and politically stupid population, that cant see beyond their own noses, and more interested in some entertainer or sports figure’s sex life, then the buffoons they elect to represent them.
Our kids are taught pc history, where Crispus Attics and Margaret Corbin are over blown to giants over Washington, Adams,and Jefferson, while our schools are run by supercillious, over reacting nitwits, that cant tell an empty shotgun shell from a stick of dynamite!
Our textbooks are written by a cabal of leftist social progressives and communist apologists, who distort historical facts and rewrite our history to fit their own pathetic agenda of white guilt and hatred of democracy.
To give an example of their crap, I noticed my grandaughter had a pamphlet with a picture of Rushmore. If you think it was about Washinghton, Jefferson, Lincoln, and T. Roosevelt, you would be dead wrong. No its about, the geology of Mt Rushmore, the proportions of the Presidential heads, the scale of the undertaking, the length of Washington’s nose, the diameter of TR’s glasses, etc, etc, etc, but nary a word about the 4 Presidents it honors.
December 19th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
Why not? They’re just dead old white guys who obviously didn’t understand how a country should be overrun by aliens and believed a man was responsible for his own actions and shouldn’t be coddled by a government whose very basic document states specifically that’s none of the government’s business.
But then, I’m just some old white guy myself, so what could I possibly know if I don’t practice self-flagellation daily?