It’s almost all over but the shouting.
Today the U.S. House of Representatives passed the final version of the stimulus package, which provides some $100 billion for education programs. The stimulus package passed 246-183. As with the original House bill, no Republicans voted in favor of the measure.
The measure now moves over to the Senate, where it is expected to pass sometime this evening. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan told reporters today that it looks like President Barack Obama will sign the bill on Monday.
There wasn’t much beyond speechifying on the House floor today. It seems lawmakers have gotten their stimulus pro-con arguments down pat.
Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, said that the bill will help school districts prevent staff reductions.
“Now school districts will know that they are going to [get] $13 billion in Title I ... that will help them reduce the number of people who will be unemployed if we do nothing,” he said.
But Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., a leading conservative, said he didn’t think the bill would do much to spur the slumping economy.
The bill “will not grow our economy. It will merely grow our government,” he said.