Date: 2010-08-10
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Madam Speaker. I rise in strong support of H.R. 1586. the Education Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act. I support this legislation because it will save and create 319.000 American jobsmany of them in the education and health secto rs. In less than a month. millions of American students will return to school eager to begin a new year of academic and personal growth. However. the quality of the schools they return to is a matter to be determined. Throughout the country. thousands of teachers have lost. or risk losing. their jobs. This is something our children and our educators can ill afford. As we work to regain economic ground. this legislation provides a total of $10 billion in funding for education jobs to sustain thousands of schools educating millions of children. Moreover. this includes $830.2 billion dollars for primary and secondary schools in the state of Texas. I am pleased that this legislation includes a provision that requires Governor Perry to certify that these emergency appropriations for public education will be used solely to add new funds for public education and not misused for other purposes. We all recall what happened last year when Governor Perry misused the Economic Recovery Act State Stabilization funds. In that instance. Governor Perry used $3.2 billion in similar aid last year as a substitute for. not an addition to. state aid to school districts. That was outrageous. It ignored the intent of our legislation. and it denied our children the education that they deserved. I want to stress that the provision will not create a compliance burden on the state of Texas. Rather. it says only that the state cannot take the federal aid and then use it as an excuse to make disproportionate cuts in state education aid to school districts. relative to other parts of the state budget that might also have to take a hit in the next budget cycle. This required assurance is no more onerous than assurances Governor Perry has given previously to receive billions of dollars in other federal funds. Texas cannot afford to be left out again. and I join my colleague LLOYD DOGGET- and groups of teachers. principals and administrators from across the state of Texas who strongly support this provision. Madam Speaker. I applaud you for reconvening this week to pass this crucial legislation. We have a bold vision for creating and sustaining an education system that prepares our children to excel. As President Obama said yesterday in Texas. "education is the economic issue of our time." I could not agree more. Today we have the opportunity to pass legislation that will impact education jobs today and our childrens job prospects tomorrow. With schools forced to make difficult personnel decisions before the start of the school year. this legislation is the necessary action at the necessary time. According to updated estimates from the Department of Education. the $10 billion education funding will save 161.000 teacher jobs. In addition to education jobs funding. this legislation will also save and create jobs in the health sector. According to an analysis by the Economic Policy Institute. a nonpartisan think tank. the Medicaid funds will save and create 158.000 jobs. including preventing the layoff of police officers and firefighters. More than half these jobs will be in the private sector. including workers who contract for or supply services to state and local governments. Under the Recovery Act. enacted in February 2009. the federal Medicaid matching rate was increased by 6.2 percentage points for all states and by additional percentage points for states with high unemployment. These temporary provisions were enacted in response to the state fiscal crisiswith the increased Medicaid caseloads and decreasing state revenues resulting from the deep recession. However. these provisions are scheduled to expire on December 31. 2010 with dire consequences for our economy. As the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found: "if Congress does not extend the enhanced Medicaid matching funds in last years Recovery Act. most states will cut public services or raise taxes . . . without more federal aid. state budgetclosing actions could cost the national economy 900.000 public- and privatesector jobs." Due to the deep and enduring recession. states have lost tax revenue for the last two years and revenues are projected to remain at severelyreduced levels throughout fiscal year 2011. As a result. states have been forced to scale back spending and implement large service cuts to balance their budgets. While fiscal austerity is important. budget cuts impact more than a bottom linethe local health and emergency personnel need their jobs to make ends meet for themselves and their families. By extending the Medicare matching funds. we will help state and local governments save money and allow them to stay afloat while the economy improves. At least 34 states will cut jobs and services if this assistance is not enacted. This legislation will have a direct impact on Texas by providing an estimated $858.000.000 for Medicaid fiscal relief which will. in turn. save and create thousands of jobs. Madam Speaker. I thank you again for calling us back to session to save Americas jobs.