Gathering strength, moving ahead
Progress isn't just possible in the 110th Congress, it's being made

When it comes to recent developments in Congress, it’s hard to know where you’re going unless you remember where you’ve been.

Take the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), for example. Organized labor, lawmakers and activists across the nation launched a full-court press earlier this year in support of EFCA. Designed to end the intimidation, coercion and threats faced by workers who try to exercise their basic right to organize, the bill drew bipartisan support and passed the U.S. House of Representatives in March by a commanding 241-185 vote. The bill faced a tougher path under the tighter rules in the U.S. Senate, however. Last summer, Senate leaders were successful in mobilizing a majority of lawmakers behind EFCA, but they fell just short of the 60 votes needed to end debate and bring the bill to the floor for final action.

The Senate roadblock notwithstanding, EFCA supporters remained optimistic and as resolved as ever to press forward in the months ahead—and why not?

A procedural vote in the Senate can’t overshadow the fact that clear majorities in both chambers voted in favor of EFCA, a development that almost certainly wouldn’t have occurred just a few years ago. Nor can the threat of a filibuster mar the new, positive landscape now taking shape: For the first time in decades, there was serious debate in Congress on real reform in labor law. No fewer than 20 senators spoke from the floor on behalf of EFCA; and 16 governors joined state legislators, local officials and community leaders nationwide in rallying behind the legislation. “By standing with American workers, these elected officials are standing on the right side of history,” AFT president Edward J. McElroy said of the House and Senate majorities in the 110th Congress who support EFCA and remain committed to its enactment.

Procedural hurdles in the Senate can be frustrating, but they are not the last word—not at a time when the agenda for workplace fairness, for strong public schools, for excellent healthcare and vital public services has come in from the cold and moved to the forefront. Recent developments show it is an agenda that is gathering strength and moving ahead on Capitol Hill.

A season of progress

To see the progress the new majority is making in Congress, you don’t have to look any further than last summer, when a raft of key legislation cleared both chambers. One of the hottest issues lawmakers tackled before the summer recess was increasing access to higher education—a major concern at a time when millions of working Americans are grappling with skyrocketing college costs. Both the House and Senate hung tough and passed bills containing historic commitments to student aid, ending years of inaction on this important issue. And they did it despite heavy pressure from a well-financed and determined student loan industry.

The House-passed College Cost Reduction Act of 2007 cuts subsidies to lenders by nearly $19 billion—and directs the savings to students. The House bill also extends tuition assistance and/or loan forgiveness to students who commit to working in high-need education and public service fields. It also boosts the maximum Pell Grant award by $500, cuts the interest rate on federal student loans in half and provides the single largest increase in college aid since the GI Bill of 1944.

The Senate followed the House a week later and passed its own version of the bill, legislation that also offers financial aid assistance to students paid for though cuts to lender subsidies. The Senate bill features a $1,000 increase in the maximum Pell Grant over five years and an income-based repayment plan that caps loan payments at a reasonable percentage of income.

Both bills will go to conference this fall. Given the commanding support for these measures in Congress, prospects are excellent for final legislation that addresses the real problems Americans face. The House bill passed by a vote of 273-149, and the Senate approved its own version by a resounding 78-18 vote.

On the books

Last summer also saw passage and enactment of new federal legislation to boost global competitiveness—a law that includes AFT-backed supports for math and science teachers. The new law, called the 21st Century Competitiveness Act, combines five separate bills that seek to strengthen training, research, and education in math and science. The AFT lobbied for and helped win final legislation that authorizes federal funding for voluntary summer institutes to help elementary and secondary math and science teachers expand their content knowledge. The bill also authorizes federal support for another AFT-backed proposal: part-time master’s degree programs in math and science that would allow teachers to gain advanced degrees over two to three years.

Under the law, an estimated 25,000 new teachers will stand to benefit from the professional development, summer training, graduate education assistance and scholarships, according to Democratic House leaders. The new law also boosts support for the National Science Foundation’s Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program and the Math and Science Partnerships Program.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the new law not only was a test of Congress’ resolve to remain globally competitive but also of its commitment to a bipartisan, progressive agenda. “I don’t want [the law] to pass with just 230 votes,” she told one group late last year. “I want 350 votes to make this a real mandate that the country can get behind.”

The final tally showed 350 votes for the legislation in the House, which passed the Senate by a unanimous voice vote and was signed into law in August.

Helping the most vulnerable

Congress also succeeded in delivering major gains this summer for some of the nation’s most vulnerable citizens. In July, millions of Americans received a long overdue pay increase thanks to congressional action on the minimum wage.

A federal minimum-wage hike was a top priority of the new leadership in the 110th Congress. And for the first time in a decade, Congress took action and increased the minimum wage, which had dropped to its lowest inflation-adjusted value in more than 50 years. In July, the minimum wage rose from $5.18 to $5.96 an hour, with additional increases in 2008 and 2009, when it will reach $7.25 an hour.

Congress also moved decisively to offer relief to the nation’s 9 million children who don’t have healthcare coverage. Bipartisan majorities in both the House and Senate resoundingly voted to expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), a federal-state partnership that insures children whose parents work but can’t afford health insurance.

The Senate moved to expand SCHIP by $35 billion while the House approved a $50 billion increase. Both funding levels were a major step beyond President Bush’s plan to increase the program by $5 billion—an amount that actually would lead to higher numbers of uninsured children due to rising healthcare costs.

Strong action in both chambers was a “crucial victory” for children, McElroy said. It was also a major legislative win for the AFT, whose members in 2004 passed a resolution calling for expansion of SCHIP in an effort to ensure that all children in the nation have health coverage, a goal our union is pursuing as part of the Campaign for Children’s Health Care, a coalition of more than 50 organizations.

Americans can expect Congress to be a staunch ally in their fight to bring health insurance to millions of children. The Senate passed its bill to expand SCHIP by a whopping 68-31 vote; Democratic leaders in the House have indicated that final legislation will likely include language aimed at ending federal  regulatory attacks on SCHIP.

Help where it’s needed

The House also has signaled its resolve to use the power of the purse to support public education and other crucial public programs that have been underfunded in recent years. In July, the House approved an appropriations bill that would increase spending for education by $7 billion over current levels—and more than $10 billion above the White House request.

All vital education programs would enjoy significant and long overdue increases under the House’s funding bill. (As American Teacher went to press, the Senate’s appropriations bill was still pending.) The House bill calls for a $1.9 billion increase in Title I funding, which would be the largest increase in the program’s history. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) would receive an increase of more than $500 million, under the House bill. It also would raise funding for Head Start by $75 million, boost Pell Grant maximum awards by almost 10 percent and hike funding for the No Child Left Behind Act by $2 billion.

Beyond the headlines

Perhaps one of the biggest dangers in Congress today is perception. Actions by a few lawmakers—the same ones who have consistently refused to heed the mandate for change that was the underlying message of the 2006 midterm elections—have often commanded headlines. A big piece of the fight will occur in future congressional elections, when AFT members will have an opportunity to elect even more legislators who understand the issues facing working families, a chance to build a stronger majority that can move forward an agenda that embraces their interests.

But this summer clearly shows that there has been fundamental change in the way Capitol Hill does business. Gone are the days when each and every battle in Congress was about curbing a fundamental attack—on public education, on Social Security, on a raft of fundamental institutions and rights.There’s little doubt that change, when it happens, isn’t always reflected in the daily headlines.  When Congress this year secured Davis-Bacon fair-wage protections for workers rebuilding the Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina, for example, it was not always given high-profile coverage. And many Americans have yet to learn about House-passed legislation to protect children from unsafe working conditions, to curb discriminatory practices by health insurers, and to extend the Family and Medical Leave Act to families with spouses deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.

The full record shows that the battles today aren’t so much about stopping bad things from happening as they are about moving forward on a positive plan of action.