House Approves Obama’s $26 Billion Public-Employee Bailout By a Vote of 247-161
The House has just approved President Obama’s $26 billion public-employee bailout by a vote of 247 to 161. Billions will now go disproportionately to bloated and mismanaged school districts. Supposedly, this was to prevent layoffs of teachers, but most school systems weren’t planning to lay off any teachers. Texas may be barred from receiving any money under the bailout due to its past thrift–it refused to spend beyond its means last year, and thus is deemed less needy.
This bailout will enable state governments to keep irresponsibly increasing their employees’ pay faster than inflation, even though their pay is already much higher than in the private sector.
This bill was a high priority of government employee unions. Obama has not hidden his pro-union bias. As he noted in a 2006 book, “I owe those unions. . .When their leaders call, I do my best to call them back right away. I don’t mind feeling obligated.”
Obama’s $800 billion stimulus package was deliberately crafted to focus on propping up government employment (especially in welfare and social service agencies) at the expense of private-sector blue-collar jobs, where unemployment is concentrated. The stimulus package is using taxpayer subsidies to replace U.S. jobs with foreign green jobs. It also destroyed jobs in America’s export sector.
As government employee pay has risen, pay in the private sector has fallen due to the recession.