Press Releases

Rep. John Kline (R-MN), the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee’s senior Republican member, issued the following statement today in response to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s decision to summon Congress to Washington to vote on a controversial state bailout, including $10 billion requested by teachers’ unions to keep school systems funded at levels states cannot afford.

“The American people have had enough. They are telling us to stop with the bailouts, tax hikes, and special interest giveaways. They are telling us to stop inflating spending and postponing the day of fiscal reckoning. The American people are living within their means, and they expect Washington – and states – to do the same.

“The truth is, a bailout for the teachers’ unions will not improve the quality of education for our children and spending $10 billion on the education status quo will not create permanent jobs. Continuing to prop up state budgets will merely postpone the tough decisions while making states more dependent on the federal government – and more susceptible to its political whims.

“It is particularly galling to claim this latest federal bailout is in any way fiscally responsible. This $10 billion boondoggle is ‘paid for’ by increasing taxes and dipping into the last stimulus to help finance a new one. At the end of the day, this is borrowed money we cannot afford, and it is our children who will pay the price.”

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