NEA EdAction Sept 17th 2023

Congress is no closer than it was last week to passing legislation to keep the government open and running on Oct. 1 and beyond. A shutdown is now more likely than not.

The problem is the House—specifically, the dysfunctional GOP caucus in the House. A bipartisan bill is the only path forward for a short-term funding patch. Yet Speaker Kevin McCarthy continues to pretend otherwise, amid renewed threats from the most extreme members of his caucus to remove him as speaker. 

Last week, McCarthy again abandoned plans to pass an extreme, partisan funding bill—this time, for defense. The bill would be dead on arrival in the Senate anyway, like the House GOP’s education proposal that would, among other things, decimate Title I, block meaningful student debt relief, end the English Language Learner program, and cause class sizes to rise—a proposal too extreme even to move through the Appropriations Committee.

In stark contrast to the House, the Senate has taken a bipartisan approach, adhering to funding levels in previously passed legislation while investing in targeted increases and avoiding draconian cuts. 

NEA’s Board of Directors is coming to Washington next week to lobby Congress on education funding, the Equality Act, and the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) that deprive 2.5 million dedicated public servants, including educators, of Social Security benefits they have earned.

Help amplify their voices by telling Congress what you think!

In solidarity,

Marc Egan
Government Relations Director
National Education Association