Bishop Votes to Keep Teachers in School, Cops on the Beat

Press Release

Today, Congressman Tim Bishop voted for passage of an emergency $26.1 billion package that will stave off job losses and reductions of service in education, health care, and public safety due to state budget cuts.

Bishop returned to Washington from a full schedule on Long Island to vote for the Education Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act (H.R. 1586), which passed the House 247-161 and will be sent to the President for signature into law.

"This is a vote to keep Long Islanders working and help prevent unacceptable cuts in education and public safety," Bishop said. "We need teachers in classrooms and cops on the beat, not drawing unemployment checks. This bill is fully paid for by cutting other spending and ending tax loopholes that allow corporations to benefit from shipping jobs overseas."

New York will receive nearly $608 million of a $10 billion education fund, enough to save or create 8,200 education jobs statewide, according to provisional estimates from the Department of Education and the National Center for Education Statistics.

Congressman Bishop is leading the effort to direct as much of that sum as possible--approximately $90 million--to Long Island school districts. In the legislation, states are given the option of distributing funds through their own "primary elementary and secondary education" funding formula or through the federal Title I formula, which would disproportionately disadvantage Long Island. Long Island Reps. Steve Israel and Carolyn McCarthy joined Bishop in writing to Governor David Paterson and State Education Commissioner David Steiner urging them to distribute New York's share of the school aid according to New York's own formula.

"State budget cuts are hitting schools across New York, and this federal aid should be distributed in the most equitable way possible," Bishop said, noting that New York's Fiscal Year 2011 budget calls for a cut of $172.6 million in state aid to Long Island's schools.

According to the nonpartisan Economic Policy Institute (EPI), the bill's $16.1 in Medicaid funds will save 158,000 jobs nationwide including police officers, firefighters, and health care workers, by offseting state budget cuts. EPI estimates that over half of the jobs saved will be in the private sector, including government contractors and suppliers.

The $26.1 billion cost of the package is more than offset by closing a tax loophole that rewards corporations for shipping American jobs overseas. In fact, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that the legislation will reduce the federal deficit by $1.4 billion over the next ten years.

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