$830million in education funds will finally go to Texas source
» A federal vs. state fight: Last year, Texas Rep. Lloyd Doggett (a Democrat) pushed through a provision effectively barring the state from receiving any federal education money unless it promised to spend all of it on education — something that didn’t happen when Obama pushed through his stimulus in 2009. The intention of the amendment was to get Texas to spend the money on education — which they’ve cut in recent years to help close a large deficit. The result of the amendment was that the money was stalled entirely, putting a stranglehold on Texas schools for nine months. Now Doggett’s amendment will go away — and the money will go to schools.
Having given the Republicans more than I am sure any Democrat in the House ever envisioned, it was surely unnecessary to pile on the District of Columbia and give them some frosting on what was already a very big cake. All along they said it is about ‘spending, spending, spending.’ How does the District of Columbia get into that equation?
DC’s House Delegate, Eleanor Holmes Norton • Offering a pretty blunt take on the DC-damaging riders in the latest budget bill. One blocks the city from using its own money to fund abortions. The other allows funding for controversial school vouchers — without any consultation from local officials. (Vince Gray probably knows more than Boehner does on this; just a thought.) These are policies the city doesn’t want, but have to take because they’re technically part of the federal government. Norton has the most demeaning job in Congress. She has to basically take and take all these awful policies that get shoved down her constituents’ residents’ throats, and all she can give back is her opinion. She doesn’t even have a horse to jockey in the matter. source
Barack Obama, according to a senior official • Informing House Speaker John Boehner that he wouldn’t be budging on Planned Parenthood — despite the fact that Boehner had fought tooth-and-nail for the policy in a White House meeting for over an hour. The meeting itself proved to be something of a watershed moment for negotiations — proving that when they need to work together, they can pull it off. As much as it hurts. “Things got heated,” said senior White House adviser David Plouffe. “The president’s approach was to try and engage all the parties to come together. Going forward this can be a model.” source