Our thoughts are with the students, members, and families affected by the shootings in Lewiston, Maine.
Last Wednesday, NEA President Becky Pringle met with the House Democratic Caucus and surveyed the national landscape for public education—attacks on the institution, educators, and certain student populations, as well as the hard work of educators to teach, inspire, protect, and ensure that all students feel seen and welcome in their classrooms and their schools.
President Pringle also called on members of Congress to be strong, vocal advocates for public education.
Later that same day, House Republicans finally ended their three-week drama and elected Mike Johnson (R-LA) Speaker of the House.
First elected to Congress in 2017, Johnson is a fiscal and cultural conservative. Behind the scenes, he played a lead role in legal maneuvers to overturn the 2020 presidential election—among other things, recruiting 125 House Republicans to join an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to invalidate the results in the battleground states of Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
What Johnson does as speaker, his first leadership role, remains to be seen. The House can persist in passing extreme bills that have no chance of becoming law—or it can work in a bipartisan way with the Senate and the White House to enact responsible legislation.
Either way, we’ll know soon. Congress must fund the government beyond Nov. 17 or millions of Americans will begin suffering the consequences of a shutdown just days before Thanksgiving.
In solidarity,
Marc Egan
Government Relations Director
National Education Association
College would become even less affordable and meaningful reform of student debt relief programs impossible under the House GOP’s proposed education budget.
Tell the Department of Labor you support the proposed expansion of overtime pay for workers making under $55,000 and that teachers should also receive this benefit.
CHEER: Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA) reintroduced the POST GRAD Act to restore graduate students’ eligibility for Federal Direct Subsidized Loans, which the Budget Control Act of 2011 terminated.
