So the House passes a bill that spends half a billion dollars on vouchers for DC schools (which democrats oppose spending on as we spend more per pupil in DC than anywhere else in the US with little to show for politically motivated programs like this) Then Anthony Weiner gets up and makes a point of order that Republicans are violating their own pay as you go rule that states that any new entitlement program must be offset by cuts everywhere. Only the chairman responds by more or less saying no one cares about the rules. <iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/3IJDQCYMM-A" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Even more frustrating is that Republicans specifically wrote into this bill that waived point of orders from even the debate session of the bill (which is the chairman's complaint that Weiner didnt bring it up then) So in essence the Republicans wrote into their bill that they dont have to follow house rules. And that's your party of fiscal responsibility.
They've not followed their own rules many, many times thus far. Weiner has called them out on more than one occasion. I follow his (or it might be a fan of his) Youtube channel; he's a pretty awesome dude. One of the very few Democrats with a spine, and if I could replace Obama with him right now, I would.
Why would vouchers cost additional money? Isn't the whole point of vouchers that they redirect the money that would have gone to one school for a student to a different school of the parents' choice?
This is the federal government funding vouchers for DC. Schools are locally funded so of course its additional money. Plus the Republican party claimed earlier that it wanted to phase out the department of education yet here they are doing the opposite. Not to mention for all crying and whining about something like NPR, a new entitlement like this is 3 times larger than the total federal funding for NPR.
Are schools locally funded in DC? The District is federal, subject to federal law and regulated by congress. I admit I am unaware of the school funding process in that unique environment.
Its locally funded but the federal government has had a history of spending on DC schools. I understand the logic since the capital of the US also has one of the worst school districts in the country so politicians would naturally want to fix that. That said, the majority of DC school funding comes from property taxes and additional funds from the DC city council. All of the federal money that comes in tends to support some political objective whether democrats or republicans are passing it. In this case its Republicans trying to institute a voucher program. Regardless of whether you think a voucher program is ok, the Republicans originally argued that any budget should freeze all spending and at the very least offset any new spending. They did neither in this case and Charlie Bass was left speechless by his (and his party's) own hypocrisy. Federal funding of DC schools is some of the most politicized garbage in politics. It's the chance for every bozo in Washington to shape an educational system in their mold and they always fail.
