The backstory is that Republican leaders in Congress finally found a minimum-wage bill they could love, because they attached it to a tax credit worth $700 billion for the wealthiest Americans. Democrats, despite their desire to give working Americans a break, wouldn’t stand for the poison pill Republicans attached to it.

The giveaway to America’s superrich—one of many in the last six years—would further erode our nation’s ability to provide essential healthcare, education and social services upon which many low- and middle-income earners depend, as well as national security priorities of such obvious importance.

What’s going on is that there is an election coming up, and members of both major political parties know that their actions now may well be on their constituents’ minds in November.

The point of this is not that members of one political party are always right and the other party always wrong. The AFT has supporters and opponents on both sides of the aisle. The point is that our elected leaders should be judged by their actions—not by their party labels. And now that the 2006 elections are upon us, officeholders should be held accountable for the votes they have cast.

In case you doubt the fact that election outcomes affect real people’s lives and livelihoods, consider a few examples. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican with crossover appeal to a lot of Democrats, independents and first-time voters, has alienated many of them with his actions since taking office. Schwarzenegger tried to raid school funding, undermine nurse staffing in hospitals, and slash benefits for the spouses and children of first responders. At the same time, the governor tried to cripple the ability of public workers to participate in the political process through their unions, which would have made it impossible for us to mobilize to beat back these and similar attacks.

And in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, President Bush turned a disaster into an opportunity to push an ideological agenda. The president quickly released a plan that included half a billion dollars for private school vouchers. He also suspended Davis-Bacon wage protection for construction workers doing relief work, until he was forced to reinstate it. Blue state or red, Democrat or Republican, it’s elected leaders’ actions that are truly where the rubber meets the road.

You can’t always accurately gauge candidates by their party affiliation, or by their stump speeches or their campaign ads; but you can judge them by their actions. The AFT Voting Record for the 109th Congress is included in this publication. I encourage you to see how your elected leaders have voted on issues of crucial importance to AFT members—and to use that as a basis for whether or not they have earned your support.

The AFT will be paying attention to what the candidates who seek our members’ votes have done for public education, healthcare, social services and the declining middle class. I hope you will do the same.