State aid bill approved

WASHINGTON – Congress on Tuesday gave final approval and President Barack Obama quickly signed the $26.1 billion aid package for cash-strapped states that is designed to keep 161,000 teachers and thousands of police, fire and other local government workers from being laid off.

The measure also provides additional funds to help states maintain medical services for low-income Americans.

The measure was approved on a virtual party-line vote as the House returned to Washington for a rare one-day session that further etched the battle lines in the coming midterm elections.

Democrats supported the bill, which had been fought over for weeks, as critical to maintaining vital public services at a time when the nation’s faltering recovery has left state and local governments in dire financial straits. Republicans denounced it as another federal bailout the country cannot afford and accused Democrats of catering to teachers unions and other special interests.

In a sign of how heavy deficit concerns have come to weigh on this Congress, the bill is fully paid for, mainly by ending some tax breaks for companies operating overseas, as well as by imposing an earlier end to a food stamp program.

Even as some Democrats are nervous about approving more federal spending, party leaders insisted Tuesday’s vote will reap rewards on the campaign trail.

Lawmakers from Colorado, Connecticut and other states holding primary elections Tuesday returned to Washington for the one-day session to cast votes, as Obama, joined by teachers in the Rose Garden, urged swift passage.

The House returned from its August recess for the vote after the Senate surprised Washington by giving the measure quick passage late last week. The House approved the bill 247-161, with all but three Democrats voting for the bill and all but two Republicans voting against.

U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers opposed the measure because she considered it a “bad precedent,” a spokesman said.

McMorris Rodgers had warned against including the proposed money for federal medical assistance percentages in the state budget during a stop in Olympia earlier this year. While Washington and many other states say they need the money to ease budget problems, the federal government has a $13 trillion debt of its own, spokesman Todd Weiner said.

Both sides are taking a political gamble with their hardened stances as a restless electorate and bleak economic outlook combine to create a volatile climate in the final push before the November midterm election.

“I can’t think of a better reason for members’ rush back to the capital than to invest in our children, our future,” said Jared Polis, a freshman Democrat from Colorado.

Republicans have been under great pressure not to yield on the aid package, even as governors from both major parties sought the funds. Many states had already counted the money in their budgets.

The legislation provides $10 billion for state education jobs that the Department of Education said Tuesday would save 161,000 educators’ jobs nationwide.

The package also provides $16 billion to extend through June 2011 a funding increase for the Medicaid program, the joint state-federal program that provides health care for low-income people.