AFT president Edward J. McElroy joined other labor leaders in a meeting with key Democratic senators on Jan. 30 to discuss joint priorities for 2008, including the impact of the economy on working families, school infrastructure needs and No Child Left Behind (NCLB). More than 20 senators attended the meeting, including majority leader Harry Reid of Nevada; Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, who chairs the Democratic Steering and Outreach Committee that convened the meeting; and Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee. The labor contingent included AFL-CIO president John Sweeney and the presidents of other international unions.

When discussion focused on the most current issue facing Congress—the economic stimulus package the U.S. House passed on Jan. 29—McElroy urged the senators to pass a version that does more to help Americans who are struggling the most to get by. Specifically, he said, that means extending unemployment insurance, making temporary increases in the food stamp program and boosting funding to states to maintain and even expand needed Medicaid coverage.

"The Democrats should put forth something that is more Roosevelt than Reagan," McElroy said. Jobs connected to infrastructure improvements—the Roosevelt side of the spectrum—are good jobs, he added. School repairs, in particular, are an area of huge need, with a backlog of some $100 billion in needed projects that can be started quickly and have a simulative effect on the economy. Funding school projects, McElroy said, is "an obvious response" to rising unemployment. It also would send a message to students who are being educated in deteriorating buildings that they matter and that we want to improve the learning conditions in their schools.

On No Child Left Behind, McElroy said he and the AFT are eager to see the law reauthorized—but only if fundamental improvements are included. He repeated one of his common themes on NCLB: The AFT represents the teachers and other educators who are doing the actual work in the classroom aimed at helping students succeed, so it's "very important that their voices be heard in the reauthorization."

January 30, 2008