Issues

The economic stimulus plan that the House is set to vote on today would shower the nation's school districts, child care centers and university campuses with $150 billion in new federal spending, a vast two-year investment that would more than double the Department of Education's current budget.

The proposed emergency expenditures on nearly every realm of education, including school renovation, special education, Head Start and grants to needy college students, would amount to the largest increase in federal aid since Washington began to spend significantly on education after World War II.

Critics and supporters alike said by its sheer scope, the measure could profoundly change the federal government's role in education, traditionally the responsibility of state and local government.

Responding in part to a plea from Democratic governors this month, Congress allocated $79 billion to help states facing large fiscal shortfalls maintain government services, and especially to avoid cuts to education programs. "This is going to avert literally hundreds of thousands of teacher layoffs," Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Tuesday.

But Republicans criticized some of the proposals as wasteful spending. And they were joined by some education experts from across the political spectrum in wondering how school districts could spend so many new billions so fast, whether such an outpouring of dollars would lead to higher achievement, and what might happen in two years when the money ends.

Analysts were also turning up surprises in the fine print.

One provision, which was sought by the student lending industry and went unmentioned in early congressional summaries of the stimulus package, would temporarily increase subsidies to banks in the guaranteed student loan program by tying them to a new index, partly because recent federal intervention in the credit markets has invalidated the previous index. A spokesman for Sallie Mae, one of the largest student lenders, said the change was needed to keep student loan markets fluid. Critics said it represented a potential new windfall for lenders.

Minnesota's K-12 schools could get $1 billion or more, according to a state-by-state breakdown of the current House version of the stimulus package. That includes $126 million for school renovation and modernization, $96 million for educating low-income students, and, potentially, several hundred million dollars to stabilize school budgets. Minnesota colleges and universities would also benefit. For instance, they would get about $115 million for renovation and modernization. Some of the money would be for next year, and some would be spread out over two years.

With little notice and no public hearings, House Democrats would create a temporary new entitlement in the stimulus plan allowing workers getting unemployment checks to qualify for Medicaid, the health program for low-income people. Spouses and children could also receive benefits, no matter how much money the family had.

In addition, the bill would offer a hefty subsidy to help laid-off workers retain the same health plans they had from their former employers.

Altogether, the economic recovery bill would speed $127 billion over the next 2 1/2 years to individuals and states for health care alone, a fact that has Republicans fuming that the stimulus package is a back door to universal health coverage. "It's raining money," said Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Texas.

Most of the aid is billed as temporary. But Republicans fear that states would get hooked on it, just as they might grow accustomed to a big increase in federal aid to education, also included in the bill.

Democrats said the current economic crisis did not allow time for public hearings on the legislation.

Congress sent the White House what is expected to be the first legislation that President Barack Obama signs into law, a bill that makes it easier for women and others to sue for pay discrimination, even if the discrimination has prevailed for years, even decades. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Obama would sign the bill Thursday.

The House on Tuesday passed the bill 250 to 177. Minnesota Democrats Betty McCollum, Collin Peterson, Tim Walz, Jim Oberstar and Keith Ellison approved the bill. Republicans John Kline, Michele Bachmann and Erik Paulsen opposed it.

The bill is a response to a 2007 Supreme Court ruling that said a person must file a claim of discrimination within 180 days of a company's initial decision to pay a worker less than it pays another worker doing the same job. The plaintiff, Lilly Ledbetter said she did not find out until near the end of her 19-year career at a Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. plant in Gadsden, Ala., that she was paid less than male co-workers.

Under the bill, every new discriminatory paycheck would extend the statute of limitations for another 180 days.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said he would crack down on lobbying to influence the $700 billion financial bailout program by the companies that are receiving billions in taxpayer funds.

He said he would also set new limits intended to prevent political interference with the decisions about which firms receive bailout money.

"American taxpayers deserve to know that their money is spent in the most effective way to stabilize the financial system," he said. "Today's actions reaffirm our commitment toward that goal."

The details of the rules -- the text has not been completed -- were not released.

STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS