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May 5, 2017 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
Trump Labor nominee confirmed ...Education under attack
Photo by Shawn T Moore, courtesy of U.S. Department of Labor
From Page 3
Vice President Mike Pence delivers the oath of office to the Alex Acosta, the new labor secretary, on April 28.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (PAI)
— By a 60-38 vote, the GOP-
run Senate on April 27 ap-
proved President Donald
Trump’s nomination of Florida
law school dean and bank offi-
cial Alexander Acosta as Secre-
tary of Labor. Acosta will be the
sole Latino in Trump’s Cabinet.
Eight Democrats, most of
them holding seats that are up
in Trump-carried states next
year, joined 51 Republicans and
Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) in
voting for Acosta. The other
Democrats and Sen. Bernie
Sanders (I-Vt.) opposed him.
“The test for a Labor Depart-
ment secretary is a simple one:
Will you stand up for 150 mil-
lion U.S. workers? Alexander
Acosta failed this test,” said
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-
Mass.)
The AFL-CIO had no imme-
diate comment on Acosta’s con-
firmation. It had been skeptical
about his record, despite his
prior service as a National La-
bor Relations Board member.
But several unions, including
the Laborers and the Fire Fight-
ers, previously supported him,
citing that record. Fire Fighters
President Harold Schaitberger
called Acosta “fair, reasonable
and accessible,” while Laborers
President Terry O’Sullivan said
Acosta’s “fairness and respect
for justice make him highly
qualified” to be Labor Secre-
tary.
cause of the public schools.
The teachers and staff in the
schools we visited are proud of
the important work they do, but
they are tired of the attacks and
ignorance about public schools.
A teacher told me, “There’s a
misconception that public
schools are broken and that
comes from people who don’t
know what is happening in pub-
lic schools.” Another said that
“The people best equipped to
teach kids are in public schools
right now, and we just need the
resources to do our jobs.”
Investment matters. What
they’ve built in Van Wert, and in
communities across Oregon and
around the country, will be
harmed beyond recognition if
the Trump/DeVos budget and
the cuts go through. The pro-
posed Trump-DeVos budget cuts
education by $9 billion (a 14
percent cut) — the biggest dollar
cut to the education budget ever,
and the largest percentage cut
since Reagan administration. It
zeros out funding for afterschool
and summer programs, commu-
nity schools, and resources to re-
duce class size and provide
teacher professional develop-
ment. It cuts financial aid for
low-income students at the same
time they are making it easier for
private loan servicers to prey on
students and families.
These cuts drive a stake
through the heart of public edu-
cation and destroy the promise
and potential it offers our chil-
dren. By eliminating after-
school and summer programs,
Trump and DeVos are telling
working parents: Either work
and leave your young children
unsupervised for several hours a
day, or stay home with them and
lose the job you need to pay the
rent and grocery bills. For many
children with tough situations at
home, school may be the only
safe sanctuary they can count on,
or the only place they reliably re-
ceive a meal each day; this
budget would rob them of that
safety and security. These cuts
would leave kids hungry and un-
supervised, and force them into
potentially dangerous situations.
We are not waiting for what
Congress thinks about these
cuts. We are fighting Trump and
DeVos on them already. And
part of that is to make them un-
comfortable with the conse-
quences of their actions.
The good news is that the
American people on our side.
That’s what we saw in the thun-
derous opposition to the nomina-
tion of Betsy DeVos. The public
in public education has never
been more visible or more vocal,
and it’s not going back in the
shadows. DeVos is unwittingly
mobilizing supporters of public
schools. Five million Americans
overwhelmed the U.S. Senate
switchboard with calls opposing
her nomination. There have been
hundreds of demonstrations
across the country in recent
months organized by AROS—
the Alliance to Reclaim Our
Schools, with help from the
AFT, where parents, students,
educators and community mem-
bers have called for increased
support for public schools.
In the end, it’s a question of
what kind of country we want.
Should we settle for some chil-
dren getting the education they
need and deserve, but not all?
Do we want a country where
people’s income determines
whether they will have access to
the healthcare they need? Do we
want a country in which individ-
uals are powerless, and hard-
working people are denied the
ability to earn decent wages and
benefits? Of course not.
In this new era it is we the
people who must be the check
and balance on the threats to our
democracy. It is we the people
who must move an agenda to re-
connect with our neighbors and
those who feel frustrated, angry,
and disillusioned. It is we the
people who must reclaim the
promise of the American Dream.
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