It would be funny if it were not so sad. Last week the Democrat controlled Senate voted down the Obama "Jobs Bill" which included a plan to send close to forty billion dollars to the states to keep teachers from being laid off. This, of course, was total nonsense. In most places, teachers have not been laid off, but rather they have been asked to pay a higher percentage of their healthcare and pension benefits. Simply put, the teachers have been asked to bring their healthcare and pension contributions closer to the much higher amounts paid by the rest of us, the overwhelming majority of folks who work in the private sector. Sure, there have been a small number of teacher layoffs, but nothing like what Obama portrayed in his support for the bill. The truth is that this provision in the bill was a payoff to the teachers' unions that supply the Democrats with their strongest union support.
Well, now that the Jobs Bill is history, Harry Reid just announced that one part of that bill will be brought back for another attempt at passage. Will it be the reduction in the payroll tax for all Americans? Will it be the construction of new infrastructure projects to put contractors back to work? Will it be the tax credit for hiring veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan who put their lives on the line for this country. Nope! Reid is bringing back the portion of the Jobs Bill that shovels money to the teachers' unions. I guess Reid's motto is "Why help the country when you can pay off your supporters?"
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