This is unlikely to sway the entrenched, obstructionist Republican Senators, hellbent on making the economy as bad as possible before the midterm election in November in hopes that it will bring them some electoral success. But here's what their opposition to the modest health and education funding bill will mean to their states. The Wonk Room's Pat Garofolo writes:
[W]ith nearly every state in the country facing a budget crunch, and massive cuts to education funding already having occurred, this money is critical to preserve jobs and keep classroom size to a semi-reasonable level. Democrats will need at least one Republican vote — and possibly two, since Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) is non-committal on the bill — to move the funding forward, but so far no GOP votes have materialized. So here are eleven Republican senators whose states are facing at least 2,000 teacher layoffs for the 2010 school year, and therefore should be especially supportive of the funding:
More than 5,000 Layoffs | 2,000-5,000 Layoffs |
Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) | Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) |
Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) | Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) |
| Sens. Tom Coburn (R-OK) |
| Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) |
| Sens. Richard Lugar (R-IN) |
| Sens. Richard Shelby (R-AL) |
| Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) |
| Sen. George LeMieux (R-FL) |
| Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) |
As Sean at LearnBoost pointed out, every state in the country is facing a teacher shortage in at least one subject area, and five (Arizona, New York, New Jersey, West Virginia, and Maryland) "desperately need teachers of any subject in some cities and counties." "Politicians and administrators are behaving as if good teachers are as expendable as the pink slips they’ve been placing on their desks," he wrote.
Almost every state is going to face layoffs, even Nebraska, which could lose as many as 500 jobs (hear that, Ben Nelson?). But the thousands and thousands of jobs represented just in Garofalo's chart alone should make even a Republican reconsider. It won't, but it should.