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As Biden Struggles, Governors Are Reaping The Political Rewards Of His Biggest Victory

By Kevin Robillard

President Joe Biden had a simple message when he met with 30 of the nation’s governors on Monday.

“We’ve sent you a whole hell of a lot of money,” Biden told them, referring to the $195 billion in state aid included in a coronavirus relief package Democrats passed on a strict party line vote roughly 11 months ago.

The governors didn’t need reminding.

Almost every state executive, regardless of party, is bragging about the politically popular measures they’re advancing using federal dollars: bonuses for teachers and law enforcement, tax cuts, one-time investments in long-standing problems.Nearly a year after Biden signed the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan into law, Biden’s approval rating has slumped significantly amid an ongoing pandemic and economic malaise, and the other marquee items on his legislative agenda are stalled or dead. That’s left the rescue plan as the president’s signature accomplishment.Voters overwhelmingly approved of the package, which included $1,400 checks for most Americans, and Biden’s approval rating peaked around the time of its passage. But now, political operatives in both parties see little evidence voters are still giving credit to Biden or congressional Democrats.

Instead, governors seem likely to reap the election-year benefits of the law, a frustrating dynamic for Democrats, as GOP officials take advantage of legislation their party unanimously opposed.

At the same time, Democratic governors are using the money to fund schools and law enforcement, hoping to fend off Republican attacks on education and crime ahead of a 2022 midterm cycle that will likely be painful for Democrats.

More than 25 states have gubernatorial elections in 2022, with both parties aiming for pickups. Democrats hope to flip open seats in Massachusetts and Maryland while doing their best to oust GOP incumbents in Georgia, Florida and Ohio. Republicans, meanwhile, are targeting Democratic incumbents in Maine, Wisconsin, Kansas, Michigan, Colorado and Nevada. Both parties view open seats in Arizona and Pennsylvania as major opportunities as well.

How each governor uses the billions of dollars handed to them by the federal government could play a crucial role in determining the outcome of these elections.

“Governors are going to have a lot to talk about,” said North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, chairman of the Democratic Governors’ Association, who said his state has put the money towards advancing rural broadband and giving bonuses to teachers and first responders. “People will actually see the results by November.”

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D), who has a high approval rating but could nonetheless face a stiff GOP challenge in a blue-tinted swing state, went on a bipartisan statewide tour to gather feedback on how to deploy the money. The answer: Invest in affordable housing in a state that has seen real estate prices and rent skyrocket, and fund improvements to mental health services. “This money has put every state in a very strong fiscal situation,” Polis said during an interview ahead of the National Governors’ Association meeting in Washington this past weekend. “We want to get this right. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity.”

The opportunity is significant enough that Republicans aren’t turning it down. While many GOP governors railed against the stimulus package — and the party voted against it unanimously in Congress — many are now boasting of what they were able to do with the cash.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), for instance, called Democrats’ alterations to funding formulas to help states with higher unemployment rates “Washington at its worst” and said Florida’s congressional delegation should vote against the legislation. But he’s using $3.8 billion Florida received to give bonuses to police officers and provide a temporary cut to the state’s gas tax. “The inflation we’re experiencing right now is largely the result of monetary and fiscal mismanagement coming out of Washington, D.C.,” Chris Spencer, DeSantis’ budget director, told the state legislature last month. “We’re not using Florida tax dollars to offset that gas tax. We’re using some of the state’s fiscal recovery dollars.”

Other GOP governors, including Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, touted federally funded projects in their state budget addresses. Other GOP states are using the money to cut taxes — something Democrats tried to explicitly prevent when writing the American Rescue Plan.

Cooper said Democrats will work to make it clear which party actually deserves credit for the cash-flush states.

”It’s typical for a number of politicians to refuse to do the hard work to get laws passed, but then want to take credit for the fruits of the labor,” he said. Democrats, meanwhile, hope the money can alleviate potential political vulnerabilities. As the GOP continues to allege Democrats want to “defund the police,” Biden has pushed for states and cities to use federal money to hire more police officers, a call he is expected to repeat during a trip to New York City on Thursday.

Democrats have honored Biden’s wishes: Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer plans to dedicate $32 million to recruiting and retaining police officers, while New Mexico Gov. Michele Lujan Grisham has proposed a 20% pay increase for state police officers. Similarly, the party is hoping additional funds for education can stave off GOP attacks on the issue related to school closings and fraught debates over how to teach students about race. Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, who may face the toughest reelection race in the country, plans to spend more on student mental health services and teacher training.

Other Democratic governors are talking a more direct page from the playbook of both Biden and former President Donald Trump, and plan to directly send money to their constituents. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who is up for reelection, has proposed sending $175 to every Minnesotan under a certain income threshold.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/governors-federal-funding_n_61fad1a8e4b0f8a1b83e51ec

Music Video - استاد ناشناس - محبت اول آسانه / Pepsi's Saz O Surood - Ustad Nashenas - Mohabat Awal Asana

چیف جسٹس عمر عطا بندیال کی حلف برداری کے دن سپریم کورٹ میں ایک فریادی کی انٹری

#Pakistan - The hanging gardens of education policies

Prof Dr Sumaira Rehman

Ensuring free and compulsory education requires holistic, bottom-up planning and its time-bound implementation mechanisms.

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon continue to fascinate historians, engineers, architects, and art aficionados alike despite being non-existent on the ground for millennia. The multiplicity of perspectives groomed over the past centuries on this subject has led to the enrichment of human minds through invaluable knowledge production. The unresolved questions of who built them, how they were built and where they were built instigate human curiosity, adding to our knowledge bank. Likewise, the education policies of the federal government in Pakistan have continued to fascinate us for seven decades with their breadth of respective frameworks and visionary perspectives. Yet, we do not find their desired results on the ground.

The process of policy development and the rationale for selecting areas of particular focus with stipulations concerning setting targets in Pakistan have a ‘baffling’ affinity with the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Within the policy discourse, the subject of free and universal school education has been resounding throughout the history of policy commitments at the national level. “Six-year free and compulsory education should be provided and should be gradually raised to eight years in future”; the statement came as one of the recommendations of The All Pakistan Education Conference 1947, organised by the federal government, as a recognition of the role of education in development of the country. It set the course of education policymaking in Pakistan with a national guiding instrument for the executive arm of the government. Four years later, the literacy rate of Pakistan was reported to be merely 16 percent. The first target-oriented policy guideline came from the 1959 Commission on National Education, commonly known as Sharif Commission, through its report of 1960. The commission “recommended achieving five-years compulsory schooling within a period of 10 years and eight-years compulsory schooling within a period of 15 years.” The third milestone was the National Education Policy 1972-80 (as the Education Policy of 1970 was lost to the secession of East Pakistan) that was presented to the nation by the then president in March 1972. It declared that up to Class X, education would be free and universal. “From October 1, 1972, it will be free for boys and girls till Class eight; from October 1, 1979, students of Classes IX and X will receive free education.” One may jest that recommendations of the 1959 commission need not be revisited after only 12 years.

Next came the 1978 policy that envisaged achieving universal enrolment of all boys of school age by 1986-87. For girls, the goal was to be attained by 1992. A short-term policy target was to achieve a 60 percent literacy rate by 1982-83. However, data available from the UNESCO indicates that in 1981 our literacy rate stood at 25.7 percent.

Our fifth milestone was the National Education Policy, 1992. It not only laid educational targets, i.e., to make primary education free and compulsory but also committed to provide the means to achieve those targets i.e., schools and trained teachers etc. However, the closure of the century made the federal government realise the need for another policy that could lead the country into the 21st Century. Therefore, The National Educational Policy 1998-2010 was introduced. It reiterated that elementary education was a fundamental right and identified some issues and constraints ailing basic education in Pakistan. The policy committed the government to achieving 90 percent enrolment in elementary schools by 2002-03.

The absolute increase in education budget is substantial. Yet, the policy formulation process chooses to turn a blind eye to sub-national fiscal space. 

We received another policy in 2009. The National Education Policy (NEP) 2009 went a step further than the previous policies and formulated policy actions as a) it required provincial and area governments to develop plans to achieve universal and free primary education by 2015, and b) all governments (federal, provincial, district, and area governments) to commit seven percent of GDP to education by 2015. The last of the policy instruments is The National Education Policy Framework, 2018, that encapsulates the ‘how’ component of addressing educational challenges.

Our 154/189 ranking on the Human Development Index, total enrolment of 52.5 million, declining net enrolment rate, a literacy rate stagnant for the past five years at 60 percent, and 32 percent of children aged 5-16 years remaining out of school is a grim reflection on the policy formulation and implementation processes. Federal laws and policies are binding for lower tiers of government, but one may question the availability of resources leading to the policy provision of making ‘catalytic funds available to support provincial governments’ (Removing Financial Barriers for Priority 1 of The National Education Policy Framework 2018) or demand from sub-national governments for committing seven percent of the GDP for education (NEP 2009)? Likewise for imparting of free and compulsory education? Apparently both the aspects, i.e., the mobilisation and allocation of resources and efficacy of governance systems at various tiers, have historically been treated as ‘quick fixes’ while making public pledges. They make allocating resources and ensuring universal school education appear to be mere Executive drawbacks. It simply needs to improve its performance? The expectation of carving a small pie of national and sub-national resources in a big favour to one sector is both unrealistic and impractical. The Punjab allocated Rs 349.4 billion for the development budget for school education last year, compared to Rs 322.5 billion for the previous year. Meanwhile, around Rs 38 billion was allocated for other sectors of education, compared to approximately Rs 34 billion for the preceding year. Within the social sector, education is second only to health as a percentage of provincial allocations. The absolute increase in education budget has been substantial. Yet, the policy formulation process chooses to turn a blind eye to sub-national fiscal space.

Similar and rather more complicated is the case of ensuring access to free school education. Availability of school infrastructure proportionate to the local demand in each part of the country, along with the presence of qualified teachers is a basic pre-requisite missing from our education delivery system. The past three decades have witnessed the role of the private sector as an important stakeholder in the education ecosystem of Pakistan expanding. The share of private sector schools is estimated at around 42 percent. The 18th Amendment to the Constitution has entrusted the provision of education to the provinces and the Punjab Free and Compulsory Education Act 2014 assigns this responsibility to the provincial government as well as local governments while also defining implementation measures for the private sector. However, seven years have elapsed since the enactment of the law, and yet there is no roadmap available to realize the right to free and compulsory education.

In my considered opinion, ensuring free and compulsory education requires holistic, bottom-up planning and its time-bound implementation mechanisms. For the Punjab, district-level plans with clear roadmaps for resource mobilization and improving service delivery are needed with defined roles for district administration, district education authorities, local governments falling within the district, private sector entities, and civil society organizations as proactive partners in improving access to and quality of education. The significance of the private sector’s role needs greater recognition at the policy and regulatory level besides developing mechanisms for developing localised plans. In the absence of such plans, the policies will continue to be no more than the fascinating hanging gardens to the citizens.

https://www.thenews.com.pk/tns/detail/929088-the-hanging-gardens-of-education-policies

#Pakistan #PPP - The current government has only provided incentives for big businesses and crony capitalists – Mian Raza Rabbani

Mian Raza Rabbani, Former Chairman Senate, has issued the following press

statement.

The Prime Minister in his statement on 30.1.2022 stated that the top 100 corporations in Pakistan have made a record profit of Rs.950 billion in the last year. This fact shows that the present government is big business-friendly and supports multinationals and crony capitalists for making profits while the working classes are languishing and these corporations fail to pay the basic wages as laid down under the law.

On the other hand, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose to a peak of 13% in January, as prices of almost all the commodities and utilities maintained a growing trend. Household and energy rates increased by 15.5%, the transport sector increased by over 23%, and perishable and non-perishable food items increased by 13% to 14%, respectively.

The government, on the dictates of IMF, has agreed to increase prices of petroleum products and electricity tariffs. The electricity bills of normal consumers in urban and rural areas have increased to such an extent that the middle class, lower-middle-class, and working-class cannot afford to pay the said bills. A salaried person cannot make a budget for his family, as a consequence, citizens have to withdraw their children from schools and are not in a position to have even a square meal a day.

The government has failed to take any substantive measures for reducing the prices of commodities and utilities but on the other hand, has provided incentives for big business and crony capitalists.

https://www.ppp.org.pk/pr/26204/

اسٹیبلشمنٹ سے کوئی لینا دینا نہیں، سیاسی جماعتوں نے انتہاپسندانہ رویہ اپنایا تو بحران ہوگا، بلاول بھٹو

 پاکستان پیپلز پارٹی کے چیئرمین بلاول بھٹو زرداری نے کہا ہے کہ انہیں گیٹ

نمبر 4 کا راستہ نہیں معلوم اور یہ بات ’وہ‘ بھی جانتے ہیں،اسٹیبلشمنٹ سے کوئی لینا دینا نہیں، سیاسی جماعتوں نے انتہاپسندانہ رویہ اپنایا تو بحران ہوگا، لانگ مارچ عوام کی طرف سے عمران حکومت کیخلاف چارج شیٹ ہوگا، لمبے لمبے دھرنے اور قومی اداروں پر حملے کرنے کی بجائے پارلیمنٹ میں سیاست کرینگے، حکومت کو آئینی طریقے سے عدم اعتماد کے ذریعے ہٹائیں گے.

ن لیگ کیساتھ پی ٹی آئی کے 34 ایم این ایز ہیں تو حکومت گرا کر دکھا دیں، نواز شریف نے اکثریت ہونے کے باوجود پارلیمان کو وقت نہیں دیا، پی ٹی آئی حکومت لانگ مارچ سے گھبرا کر پیپلزپارٹی اور اسکے عوامی نمائندوں کیخلاف جھوٹے پروپیگنڈوں پر اتر آئی ہے۔

ان خیالات کا اظہارا نہوں نے لاہور میں میڈیا سے گفتگو اور سابق گورنر پنجاب مخدوم احمد محمود بات چیت کرتے ہوئے کیا۔ بلاول بھٹو زرداری نے لانگ مارچ کی کامیابی کیلئے اسٹیبلشمنٹ سے غیر جانب دار رہنے کا مطالبہ بھی کردیا اور ساتھ ہی کہا کہ اسلام آباد جائینگے لیکن پارلیمنٹ یا پی ایم ہاؤس کا گھیراؤ نہیں کرینگے، لمبے لمبے دھرنے اور قومی اداروں پر حملے کے بجائے پارلیمان میں سیاست کریں گے، حکومت نکالنے کیلئے آئین کے تحت تحریک عدم اعتماد لانی ہوگی۔

بلاول نے ن لیگ کو چیلنج بھی کیا اور کہا کہ مسلم لیگ (ن) دعویٰ کرتی ہے کہ پی ٹی آئی کے 34 ایم این ایز ان کے ساتھ ہیں، ایسا ہے تو حکومت گرا کر دکھا دیں۔پی پی چیئرمین نے کہا کہ میاں صاحب کو پارلیمان کی اس وقت یاد آئی جب حکومت کو خطرہ ہوا۔ بلاول بھٹو نے مزید کہا کہ پیپلز پارٹی ہمیشہ جمہوریت اور پارلیمان کو مضبوط کرنا چاہتی ہے،ہمیں ہر الیکشن میں ان کا ڈٹ کر مقابلہ کرنا چاہیے۔

بلاول بھٹو نے کہا کہ اگر ہم نے اس حکومت کو نکالنا ہے تو آئین کے تحت عدم اعتماد لے کرآنا ہوگا، ہم عدم اعتماد کی بات کرتے ہیں ہمارا ساتھ دیں، اپوزیشن حکومت کو ہٹانے کا کوئی دوسرا راستہ بتائے تو ہم حاضر ہی۔

بلاول بھٹو نے کہا کہ حکومت کے اتحادیوں میں سے کوئی پیشکش نہیں ہوئی، لانگ مارچ شروع ہونے پر شاید کوئی آپشن آجائے، 100 فیصد نہیں کہہ سکتا کہ لانگ مارچ پوری طرح کامیاب ہوگا یا نہیں، عمران خان اور مولانا فضل الرحمٰن کےلانگ مارچ ناکام ہوئے لیکن بے نظیر بھٹو ناکام نہیں ہوئیں۔

چیئرمین پیپلز پارٹی نے کہا کہ یوسف رضا گیلانی کو ووٹ کس کس ایم این اے نے دیا ن لیگ اور مولانا کو بھی نہیں پتہ، صرف مجھےاور یوسف رضا گیلانی کو پتہ ہے کہ ووٹ کس نے دیا تھا۔ انہوں نے کہا کہ نیب کو سیاسی طور پر استعمال نہ کیا جائے، یہ حکومت سلیکٹڈ ہے لیکن سلیکٹڈ بھی پریشان ہے۔ بلاول نے کہا کہ اسٹیبلشمنٹ کےساتھ تعلق کی خبریں میڈیا کی طرف سےآتی ہیں،ہماری طرف سےنہیں، اسٹیبلشمنٹ کے ساتھ ہماری دلچسپی کل تھی نہ آج ہے، گلگت جاتا ہوں یا جنوبی پنجاب تو کہا جاتا ہے اسٹیبلشمنٹ کا اشارہ ہے۔

دریں اثناء بلاول بھٹو زرداری نے ماڈل ٹائون میں پیپلزپارٹی جنوبی پنجاب کے صدر مخدوم احمد محمود کی رہائش گاہ پر مخدوم احمد محمود، مرتضی محمود، علی محمود، عطا گیلانی ودیگر سے ملاقات کی۔ ملاقات کے دوران چیئرمین بلاول بھٹو زرداری اور سابق گورنر پنجاب مخدوم احمد محمود کے درمیان سیاسی صورت حال پر تبادلہ خیال کیاگیا ۔

بلاول بھٹو زرداری اور مخدوم احمد محمود کے درمیان لانگ مارچ کے لائحہ عمل پر بھی تفصیلی بات چیت ہوئی۔ اس موقع پر گفتگو کرتے ہوئے چیئرمین بلاول بھٹو زرداری نے کہاکہ پاکستان پیپلزپارٹی کا لانگ مارچ ملکی سیاسی تاریخ کا ایک اہم سنگ میل ثابت ہوگا۔

https://jang.com.pk/news/1044817