NEA EdAction March 5th 2023

Last Tuesday, as the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a pair of cases challenging President Biden’s plan to cancel student debt, NEA President Becky Pringle addressed hundreds of activists on the court’s steps. More than 40 million Americans would benefit from the plan, which would cancel up to $20,000 of federal student debt for borrowers earning less than $125,000 ($250,000 per household). 

Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Susan Collins (R-ME), joined by Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), reintroduced the Senate version of the Social Security Fairness Act. The bill would fully repeal the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) that deprive 2.5 million public-service workers, including educators, of Social Security benefits they have earned. 

President Biden nominated Julie Su as Secretary of Labor—the candidate NEA strongly urged him to nominate just weeks before. The daughter of Chinese immigrants, she will be the first Asian and Pacific Islander American in Biden’s cabinet, if confirmed. Su is currently Deputy Secretary of Labor and previously headed the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency. 

NEA President Becky Pringle responded to the GOP’s anti-education, anti-student “Parents Bill of Rights,” introduced this week in the House. “Sadly, Speaker McCarthy is ignoring the needs of our students, as well as the wishes of the vast majority of parents, to appease right-wing billionaires like Betsy DeVos,” she said. “McCarthy would rather empower politicians who want to ban books and drive passionate educators out of the profession, instead of doing what is right for our students and public schools.” 

In solidarity, 

Marc Egan
Government Relations Director
National Education Association