Chad’s Morning Brief: Wendy Davis Wants to Spend A Lot of Money on Her Education Plan, Lawmakers Demand Vote on Military Action Against ISIS, and Other Top Stories
Here is your Morning Brief for the morning of August 27, 2014. Give me your feedback below and tune in to The Chad Hasty Show for these and many more topics from 8:30 to 11am. Remember, you can listen online at KFYO.com or on your iPhone/Android with the radioPup App.
Wendy Davis Wants to Spend A Lot of Money
Liberals love spending money and when it comes to education they think more money will fix the problem. How much more money? Well they don't like to put a price on it exactly but more money will work. At least that is what they say. Wendy Davis who is running for Governor in Texas believes in the more money line and even the SACurrent thinks her plan sounds pricey.
Today, Wendy Davis, a Democratic senator from Fort Worth who is running for Texas governor, unveiled her education plan, which includes doubling dual credit options for high school students, boosting technical and vocational training, making college affordable by enhancing financial aid and exempting college textbooks from the sales tax.
Davis said she wants to strengthen opportunities for all Texas students from early education through college, especially those students “who work hard but fall through the cracks just because of what they look like or where they came from.
“Educating our children is about creating jobs of tomorrow and strengthening our economy for decades to come,” she said in San Antonio today, surrounded by area college students at Palo Alto College.
Davis’ plan also calls for full-day prekindgarten for all of Texas’ little ones and better training, recruitment and retention of public school teachers. As far as higher education goes, Davis wants to create what she called a “Career-Technical Coordinating Board” to connect local industries, community and technical colleges, and public high schools to give students a chance to move into vocational jobs. She also wants to open the B-On-Time loan, which incentives timely college completion by forgiving the loan amount upon graduation, to part-time students.
“Today, some students can’t get the financial aid they qualify for because their schools don’t have the funding,” she said. “In Texas, no student who is seeking an education and qualifies for financial aid should be denied.”
The elephant in the room, of course, is how Davis plans to pay for the lofty elements of her plan, given the Republican-dominated Texas Legislature’s penchant for keeping state spending low. In responding to various questions about the price tag, Davis repeatedly promised to “work with the Legislature,” and wouldn’t go into detail about which funding stream she would utilize. She said, however, that she would tap “existing” resources.
Why wouldn't Davis go into how she is going to pay for it? Two possible reasons. One, is that she has no clue and the second choice could be higher taxes.
Congress Wants to Vote
According to FOX News, lawmakers in Congress are demanding that they be consulted before the Obama administration takes further action against ISIS.
With Congress set to return early next month, influential lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have urged the administration to seek an up-or-down vote on military action in the region.
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., issued a statement late Monday saying that while the Islamic State poses a “significant terrorist threat” to U.S. interests, “I do not believe that our expanded military operations against ISIL are covered under existing authorizations from Congress.”
Kaine noted that the president has the authority to defend against “imminent threats” to U.S. security interests but questioned whether current actions against the Islamic State “meet this test.” He called for a full-blown debate in Congress next month, in part to make sure lawmakers and the administration are united.
“This fight, and the threat posed by ISIL, is serious enough that Congress and the administration must be united on U.S. policy going forward,” Kaine said. “I urge the administration to use the next two weeks to clearly define the strategy and objectives of its mission against ISIL, then bring it to Congress for a debate and authorization vote.”
Though the executive and legislative branches have long battled over when the latter needs to be consulted for military action, Congress does have the power of the purse strings and could use that as leverage.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and others have likewise urged the president to seek a vote.
The argument is that prior congressional authorizations do not give the president the power he needs to truly launch a campaign against the Islamic State, should he expand the targeted airstrikes into something broader. That is still under consideration, but in one sign of the administration's thinking, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki indicated Tuesday that the threat from the organization has increased.
"ISIS has threatened the homeland, and we take those threats seriously," she said.
Kaine said the 2001 authorization for use of force does not apply here, though, and noted that the administration previously has called the 2002 authorization for the Iraq war obsolete.
The top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Bob Corker, R-Tenn., also said in an interview with MSNBC on Tuesday that Congress should be asked to authorize airstrikes on Islamic State targets in Syria.
Corker noted the War Powers Act allows the Obama administration 60 days for military activity without coming back to Congress. But he agreed with Kaine in arguing against relying on the 2001 authorization.
“I hope what they will instead do is come to Congress and ask for a new authorization for a new threat that has evolved over time,” Corker said.
Other Top Stories:
These and many more topics coming up on today’s edition of The Chad Hasty Show. Tune in mornings 8:30-11am on News/Talk 790 KFYO, streaming online at kfyo.com, and now on your iPhone and Android device with the radioPup App. All guest interviews can be heard online in our podcast section after the show at kfyo.com.
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