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Friday, May 14, 2010

Duncan Urges Congressional Leaders to Pass Edujobs Bill ASAP - Politics K-12 - Education Week

Duncan Urges Congressional Leaders to Pass Edujobs Bill ASAP - Politics K-12 - Education Week

Duncan Urges Congressional Leaders to Pass Edujobs Bill ASAP

It's almost crunch time on the edujobs legislation.
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan sent a letter today to Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. the Speaker of the House, and Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., the Majority Leader, asking them to please include the $23 billion edujobs measure in the supplemental appropriations bill funding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that the Senate is set to consider very soon.
Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, the chairman of the subcommittee that oversees education spending, is planning tointroduce the bill as an amendment to the supplemental, once it goes to the Senate floor. If the edujobs bill was passed this way, there wouldn't need to be an offset, or cut in other spending, to cover the $23 billion.
Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, has similar legislationpending in the House.
The problem? Some observers say it might be tough for congressional leaders to get the votes needed to pass