NEA Lame-Duck Congressional Spending Request

In my inbox this afternoon, from the National Education Association:

Tell Congress: Help Struggling Families

The Senate will return to Washington, DC on November 17 for a short "lame duck" session. It is critical that the Senate use this opportunity to pass an economic recovery bill that helps families in need. Across the nation, people are losing their homes, and finding it increasingly harder to buy even basic necessities such as food and fuel. At the same time, a majority of states are facing significant budget deficits and will likely cut funding for education, health care, and other priorities.

The votes of 60 Senators will be needed to prevent millions of people from losing their jobs, exhausting unemployment benefits, going without food, and becoming homeless.Call your Senators TODAY!!. You can call toll-free at 800-473-6711 to be connected to the Capitol Switchboard. Ask to speak to one of your Senators. (Don't know their names? Find out at http://www.senate.gov/. Relay the message below. Then call back and ask to speak to your state's other Senator.

Message:

• I'm a constituent and an educator, and I want Senator ___ to know that our state desperately needs an economic recovery package that includes help for people being hurt now.
• People are struggling. In schools, we are seeing record numbers of homeless students and students poor enough to qualify for free school meals.
• We need unemployment benefits and food stamps for struggling families.
• We also need investments in school construction to create immediate jobs and help boost our local economy.
• And, we need state aid to prevent health care and other cuts.
  This is not the time for partisanship or for further delays. We need your vote now for recovery that works - for our people and for the economy!

Peter Beinart was right: this really is "new liberal order," and we've still got two months until "The One" takes office.

For more on Democratic big government interest group follies, see Kimberley Strassel, "Nancy Pelosi's Motown Juggling Act."