Keep telling your senators to push for action on bills that help families and educators As the Senate begins its August recess, the list of House-passed bills awaiting action just grows longer. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is proud of his refusal even to consider legislation with broad-based support—in the House and among the…
House passes bipartisan budget bill On July 25, the House passed the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2019 (H.R. 3877), which lifts the budget caps introduced in 2011 and prevents severe cuts in non-defense discretionary (NDD) funding for fiscal years 2020 and 2021. Bipartisan support for the deal demonstrates how damaging the budget caps’ automatic cuts…
NEA Member Testifies on Recruiting and Retaining Teachers before House Committee Michael Brosnan, a Bridgeport, Conn. high school teacher and member of the Connecticut Education Association, told members of the House Committee on Education and Labor that recruiting and retaining educators is a huge challenge for several reasons-including the cost of higher education, low teacher…
Tell Congress to raise the federal minimum wage This week, the House is expected to vote on the Raise the Wage Act of 2019 (H.R. 582). The bill would gradually increase the federal minimum wage from the current $7.25 to $15 an hour in 2024, index future minimum wage increases to wage growth, and phase…
Supreme Court blocks inclusion of citizenship question on census-for now In a strongly worded 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court refused to green light a citizenship question on the 2020 Census, finding that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross’s ostensible reason for including it-to improve enforcement of the Voting Rights Act-does not hold water. “Several points, taken together,…