1.28.10 - RiShawn Biddle - What price will Barack Obama and the DNC will pay to keep control of Congress? But for the National Education Association, the American Federation of Teachers and suburban school districts, it may mean at least $27 billion and perhaps, even more.
What price will Barack Obama and the DNC will pay to keep control of Congress?
As a string of electoral losses put the president and his Democratic majority in Congress on the defensive, they will have to turn to their longstanding allies -- the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers -- to get the money and manpower they need to stave off further losses in November. But given their annoyance with Obama and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan for their advocacy of Race to the Top, their help won't come cheap.
For President Barack Obama, Scott Brown's victory over Martha Coakley in the U.S. Senate special election could at the very least lead to a drastically scaled-down version of his healthcare reform plan. But for the National Education Association, the American Federation of Teachers and suburban school districts, it may mean at least $27 billion and perhaps, even more.Even as Obama proclaims he has listened to voter discontent by freezing some domestic spending, the president made sure to assure teachers unions (along with school districts and the school reform movement) that more federal money would flow into their coffers. This includes his announcement in his State of the Union address of a $4 billion increase in Title I funding as well as another $1.5 billion for the federal Race to the Top school reform effort.