Six innocent victims—three just nine years old—died last week in Nashville in the 39th incident so far this year involving gunfire on school grounds, according to the K-12 School Shooting Database.
The story is as familiar as it is tragic.
Rear Admiral Barry C. Black, chaplain of the U.S. Senate, put it this way: “When babies die at a church school, it is time for us to move beyond thoughts and prayers. Remind our lawmakers of the words of the British statesman Edmund Burke: ‘All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.’”
Parents are worried—and for good reason. Gun violence has replaced car accidents as the leading cause of death among U.S. children.
Meanwhile, the need to raise the nation’s debt ceiling grows more urgent. Failure to do so would lead to an unprecedented default, crashing the economy and forcing the U.S. government to choose between competing priorities like paying Treasury bondholders or Social Security beneficiaries.
Democrats and Republicans voted to raise the debt ceiling three times during the Trump administration, no strings attached. In return for their votes now, many Republicans are demanding draconian budget cuts—still largely unspecified due to lack of agreement within the GOP caucus.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee, estimates that non-defense discretionary funding, including education, could be cut by more than 20 percent if extreme lawmakers get their way.
CHEER: Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Rep. Joe Neguse (D-CO) reintroduced the Affordable College Textbook Act (S. 978/H.R. 1811) to expand the use of open textbooks and educational resources that can be downloaded, edited, and shared.
CHEER: Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Tim Kaine (D-VA) led a “Dear Colleague” letter requesting robust funding for the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act in the FY2024 Labor, Health, and Human Services appropriations bill.
CHEER: Reps. Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Alma Adams (D-NC) reintroduced the Improving Access to Nutrition Act (H.R. 1510), which seeks to lift the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program’s three-month limit for able-bodied adults without dependents. The change would end punishment of unemployed and underemployed people for failure to document sufficient work hours each month.
CHEER: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Rep. Katherine Clark (D-MA) hosted a press conference calling on House Republicans to hold a vote on banning assault weapons and expanding background checks for gun sales.
CHEER: Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) led a “Dear Colleague” seeking at least $10 million to increase the reach of the Department of Education’s Green Ribbon Schools program to promote energy efficiency, career and technical education, and excellence in STEM and project-based learning.
CHEER: Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) introduced a resolution calling out attacks on LGBTQ+ students and urging communities to demand equal educational opportunities, basic civil rights, and freedom from erasure for all K-12 students.
CHEER: Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Patty Murray (D-WA), Bob Casey (D-PA), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Tina Smith (D-MN), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Ed Markey (D-MA), and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) voted to advance Jessica Looman’s nomination as Administrator of the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division.
JEER: Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD) introduced the America Works Act (H.R. 1581) to make already strict Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) work requirements even harsher. The bill would extend work requirements to people ages 50-65 and limit states’ ability to request waivers that help SNAP recipients keep their benefits.
JEER: Rep. Jake LaTurner (R-KS) introduced H.R. 1550, which would severely limit states’ flexibility to help Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients retain benefits, and eliminate their ability to request waivers based on local conditions.
