What I will never forget about the State of the Union
NEA President Lily Eskelsen García, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s guest at the State of the Union address, waited a long time to hear President Trump say anything on education: “Then it came. His plan for education. With a nod to Betsy DeVos he said, ‘To help support working parents, the time has come to pass school choice for America’s children.’” The best part is what happened after the speech — check it out! Although Trump spoke for more than an hour, he failed to acknowledge the hardships endured by 800,000 federal workers and their families during the 35-day government shutdown, the longest in U.S. history. Instead, he repeated his call for a wall on our southern border to address an “urgent national crisis.” The next day, NEA’s Board of Directors went to Capitol Hill to urge legislators to keep the government open after Feb. 15, when funding again runs out. Meanwhile, a House-Senate conference committee continues to negotiate. Stay tuned for further developments in future issues of the Education Insider.
Tell Congress to require universal background checks to help prevent gun violence
NEA’s Board of Directors urged legislators to support universal background checks the day after the House Judiciary Committee’s Feb. 6 hearing on the issue, the first in eight years. Bills introduced in both chambers would require a background check for every gun sold, as well as most transfers: the Bipart
isan Background Checks Act of 2019 (H.R. 8), which has 231 cosponsors, and the Background Checks Expansion Act (S. 42), which has 41 cosponsors. Like most Americans, NEA members overwhelmingly support universal background checks. In the March 2018 Monmouth University Poll, 83 percent supported comprehensive background checks for all gun sales, including 69 percent of NRA members and 78 percent of gun owners who are not NRA members. Click here and urge members of Congress to support H.R. 8/S. 42, especially Republican senators.
Cheers and Jeers
Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) for introducing the National Classified School Employee of the Year Award Act (S. 323), which would give ESPs long overdue recognition nationwide, and Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)for cosponsoring the bill. Click here to email your representatives and urge them to support a national award for ESPs.
Reps. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY), José Serrano (D-NY), Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR), Don Beyer (D-VA), Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), and Jesús “Chuy” García (D-IL) for introducing the Protecting Sensitive Locations Act, which would forbid enforcement of immigration functions within 1,000 feet of schools, school buses, health care facilities, emergency shelters, places of worship, courthouses, motor vehicle departments, and other specified locations
Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) for introducing the Census IDEA Act (S. 358), which would ensure that every decennial census is adequately researched, tested, and studied, toensure the accuracy of the final product, and strengthen congressional oversight of last-minute changes
Reps. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), Kathy Castor (D-FL), Dan Kildee (D-MI), and Lucy McBath (D-GA) for introducing the MORE Health Education Act (H.R. 987), which would require the administration to devote sufficient Affordable Care Act user fees to marketing, including for hard-to-reach populations
Sen. Todd Young (R-IN) for hosting a briefing on minority-serving institutions
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) for trying to silence the fathers of students shot down at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and saying, during the House Judiciary Committee’s hearing, “The greatest driver of violence … was not the firearm, it was the fact that we have an immigration system that allows people to come here violently.”
