Picking up from last week:
To say the bill has met with less than an enthusiastic response from all sides is quite the understatement. Susan Urahn, managing director of the Pew Center on the States, a division of The Pew Charitable Trusts, has this to say:
When President Obama signed H.R. 1586—the Education Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act—last Tuesday, sending $26 billion in aid to the states, Democrats called it an economic stimulus plan necessary to save jobs. Republicans said it allows states to postpone making tough decisions to balance their budgets. The truth? It does both.
The problem is not that state leaders haven't made tough choices. It's that they haven't yet made the toughest choices needed to manage our increasingly bleak fiscal outlook.
Regardless of where one stands on the issue, the fact such a bill was felt necessary reflects the increasing politicization of the public sector. There is a discernible, growing resentment in the tea party movement against public employees, who as a whole are being portrayed as gorging themselves at the public trough without providing any genuine return on investment. Conversely, portions of the liberal mindset are inclined to believe the fault lies not in excessive government spending, but rather misplaced priorities where insufficient funds are expended on the entire spectrum of education, including teacher salaries.
Let us know your thoughts on the issue in the Comments area.
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