Washington Watch
By Leo Coco
Change. American voters across the country sent that message loud and clear in the historic November 2006 elections. A new direction in Iraq and adjustments to national priorities were the overwhelming messages of change. There were other important voting issues–scandals, rising deficits, immigration and stem cell research–that spotlighted Congressional immobility. Heading into the elections, Democrats in Congress were championing a short list of priorities: 6 in ‘06. Making college more affordable by creating a tax deduction for tuition was on their top six list.
“The more things change, the more they remain the same.” The old French maxim is what Americans now will be thinking as they watch power shifts in Congress. The week after the elections, Republicans and Democrats met separately and privately with their respective caucuses to select leaders for the new Congress. As expected, the top three Democratic leaders in the last Congress moved up the ladder including the election of Nancy Pelosi (CA) as the first woman Speaker of the House. After Republican Speaker Dennis Hastert (IL) decided to step down, his current lieutenants, Leader John Boehner (OH) and Whip Roy Blunt (MO), were re-elected to lead the Republicans in the House. Senate Democrats will continue with their Leader Harry Reid (NV) and Whip Dick Durbin (IL) moving to Majority status. With the retirement of Senate Republican Leader Bill Frist (TN), the current Whip Mitch McConnell (KY) moved up to the Leader position and Senator Trent Lott (MS), a former leader of Senate Republicans for years, returned to the Leadership with his election as Minority Whip.
The real test of change
The real test of change will be whether Congress can move forward with passage of critical legislation. Can gridlock over spending and taxes and tough issues like immigration, lower prescription drug prices and energy independence be replaced with bipartisan support for legislative solutions? Speaker-Elect Pelosi plans to show “new direction” effectiveness with passage of the following in the first 100 hours of the new Congress: raising the minimum wage, enacting the 9-11 Commission recommendations, addressing lobby reform, broadening stem cell research, negotiating between the federal government and drug companies to lower drug prices, and implementing a “pay-as-you-go” rule to outlaw increases in deficit spending.
HEA and NCLB reauthorization lead education agenda
This out-of-the-gate agenda will parallel the reorganization of committees, including those with education jurisdiction. George Miller (D-CA) will chair the House Education and the Workforce Committee, and Ted Kennedy (D-MA) will once again chair the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Both will push for two major education reauthorizations next year: the Higher Education Act (HEA) and No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act.
Reauthorization of the HEA stalled again in this Congress. Education Chairs Kennedy and Miller are determined that it will receive top priority at their respective education committees and will lead the education agenda in 2007. Looking to fulfill pre-election campaign promises, Democrats aim through HEA to cut by half interest rates for student loans, to increase by $1,000 the Pell grant maximum amount and to create a $3,000 tax credit for college tuition.
NCLB reauthorization, while high on the education committee agenda, may be more difficult to get done in 2007, and many Hill observers think that 2008 will be too complicated by the presidential election for a consensus to be reached. President Bush has signaled his strong interest in moving NCLB forward as a strong bipartisan issue. The passage of the original legislation in 2001 was indeed a collaborative effort among Congressional Republicans, Democrats and the White House. Education Committee leaders of both parties continue to be staunch champions of school accountability and support reauthorization of the broad tenets of performance-based accountability in NCLB. With Democrats in power, the focus will be to provide resources and interventions to improve struggling schools while Republicans will argue for provisions that expand school choice options for failing schools.
Influencing the debate on NCLB will be the 40 new Democratic freshmen in the House who will drive legislation toward a more centrist outcome with a fresh-from-the-field discussion on how the current law and regulations impact schools in their districts. This perspective is likely to be seen through the eyes of incoming Minnesota high school teacher and football coach Tim Walz (D) who won his first election ever by defeating a 12-year incumbent in a solid Republican district. In a policy paper on his campaign website, Walz writes, “The benefit of No Child Left Behind is that it started a national dialogue on our public education system. However the benefit of this dialogue appears to be completely destroyed by the uneven, bureaucratic nightmare created by NCLB, which harms the students and schools who need it most.”
Will Social Security be reintroduced?
Another issue of keen interest to Texas teachers was not dealt with during this Congress. The Social Security Fairness Act of 2005, introduced in the House in January 2005, amends Title II of the Social Security Act by repealing the Government Pension Offset and Windfall Elimination Provision. The bill was co-sponsored by close to 75 percent of the members of the House of Representatives. The bill did not receive any attention at the Social Security subcommittee. A discharge petition was filed this past September in an attempt to force the bill to the floor of the House for consideration, but it fell short of the requisite 218 signatures necessary for further action. Current House Education Chair Buck McKeon (R-CA), author of the legislation, plans to reintroduce the bill with his California Democratic colleague Howard Berman immediately after the 110th Congress convenes.
The Crayola Credit extended
One important piece of business did get finished during the lame duck session. The Crayola Tax Credit, providing a $250 tax credit for out-of-pocket expenditures of K-12 classroom teachers, was included in a large group of tax credits known as tax extenders because the law providing for them must be “extended” into the next year. Also included was an exemption for state and local sales taxes in states with no income tax. The popular extenders had been held up in a politically charged package last summer that permanently repealed the estate tax and increased the minimum wage.
Thoreau wrote, “Things do not change; we change.” Americans have expectations of our government for action and solutions. Our President enters his final two years of office, faced with overwhelming challenges of the Iraq War. The next Democratic Congress will balance moving forward with their legislative agenda and examining the decisions and actions that have brought us where we are today. The large incoming freshman class in the House and the narrowest of margins in the Democratic Senate will push the debate to the center. The test is whether the new Congress and the embattled White House, responding to the call for change, can get down to business and deliver on a new order of urgent priorities for our country.
Leo Coco is TCTA’s lobbyist based in Washington, D.C. He is a senior policy advisor with the law firm of Nelson Mullins, with a background that includes extensive experience inthe U.S. Department of Education.
The Classroom Teacher, Winter 2006
Archive of other TCTA Publications
THE CLASSROOM TEACHER (ISSN-0279-2494) is the official publication of the Texas Classroom Teachers Association (TCTA), providing news and opinions in the interest of education excellence. All contents are copyrighted and may not be reproduced without the publisher’s permission. The views and opinions contained in this publication are not necessarily those of the publisher. Copyright © 2006. Publication schedule is quarterly. Annual membership dues for TCTA are $110, $5 of which is allocated to a one-year subscription to THE CLASSROOM TEACHER. Subscriptions for nonmembers are available for $10 per year.
