Victory!! Senate Clears Final Hurdle to Pass Funding for Jobs and FMAP

After months of work, the U.S. Senate finally passed $10 billion dollars to save education jobs and $16 billion dollars, extending the Federal Medicaid Assistance Percentage (FMAP) program. Both of these sums are sorely needed by states and local districts as both confront the realities of the current economic crisis.

In response to the Senate vote, Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives, announced that she was calling members back from vacation to approve the measure so it could get to the President for his signature immediately. The sooner the measure is approved by the House and signed by the President the sooner money can begin flowing to the states.  With most schools starting back in the coming weeks, getting money to districts quickly to save jobs is critical.
The Senate’s action also will help the 25 states who had figured the FMAP monies into their current state budgets.  If this measure had failed, all of these states would have had to revise their current budgets and make more and deeper cuts. Because education is such a large part of state budgets overall, it is likely education in all of these states would have on the chopping block.
Importantly, the bill as finally passed is fully paid for and, according to the Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan organization which analyzes the cost impact of spending on the deficit. And, it will actually reduce the deficit over the next 10 years.
CEC members and especially CEC’s CAN Coordinators (Children and Youth Action Network (CAN)) worked tirelessly throughout the summer telling Congress about how budget cuts impacted their programs, schools and students.  Every state will receive funding from this measure, and it is thanks to the hard work of grassroots advocates! If you are interested in joining CEC’s CAN network or understanding better how it works, contact CEC at pubpol@cec.sped.org for more information. Thank you to everyone who helped!