Duncan Makes Case For Averting Sequestration On "Face The Nation." As the March 1 deadline for massive spending cuts under Federal budget sequestration looms, the story has dominated national press coverage. Several reports touch on Education Secretary Arne Duncan's appearance on CBS's Face The Nation (2/25) as part of the Administration's push to persuade Congress to adopt a plan to avert the cuts.
NBC Nightly News (2/24, lead story, 2:25, Holt, 7.86M) reported in the lead story of an abbreviated broadcast, "Fewer than five days till the budget axe falls, barring some last minute deal, the Obama Administration is trying to add to the urgency with Cabinet secretaries offering dire warnings on Sunday morning TV." Education Secretary Arne Duncan is shown saying, "And there are literally teachers now who are getting pink slips, who are getting notices they can't come back this fall."
Several political blogs focused on Duncan's Sunday comments. The Washington Post (2/25, Sullivan, 489K) reports in its 'The Fix' blog that Duncan "warned Sunday that thousands of teachers around the country could lose their jobs as a result of the automatic across-the-board spending cuts slated to begin Friday, barring action by lawmakers." The Post quotes Duncan saying on "Face the Nation," "As many of 40,000 teachers could lose their jobs. There are literally teachers now who are getting pink slips, who are getting notices they can't come back this fall." The Post adds that Duncan "argued that there was virtually nothing he could do to shield essential education programs from the federal spending cuts, which are set to begin Friday, if lawmakers don't act to avert them," quoting him saying, "We don't have any ability with dumb cuts like this to figure out what the right thing to do is. It just means that a lot more children will not get the kinds of services and opportunities they need."
The Hill (2/25, Becker, 21K) also covers Duncan's appearance on "Face the Nation," reporting in its 'Blog Briefing Room' blog that Duncan "said Sunday that sequestration would have a devastating affect on school systems around the country. Duncan said that teachers around the country were already being informed that they won't be retained, and that some 40,000 teachers in all could lose their jobs." Duncan warned of cuts to Head Start and Impact Aid students, The Hill reports, quoting him saying, "We don't have any ability with dumb cuts like this to figure out what the right thing to do is. It just means a lot more children will not get the kinds of opportunities and services they need." The Hill, noting that other such Cabinet members as Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood are also speaking out on potential impacts of cuts, concludes by reporting that Duncan also lamented the issue's taking focus from the gun violence debate, quoting him saying, "That's where I think we should be spending our time, is talking about how we reduce gun violence. That's the productive use of our time. Spending time talking about stupid issues like this in Congress doesn't make sense."
Politico (2/25, Munsil, 25K) reports on Duncan's appearance in its "Politico Live" blog, noting that he "railed against lawmakers' inability to avoid sequestration, saying that teachers are already losing their jobs in anticipation of the deep, across-the-board cuts." This piece also quotes Duncan decrying the budget cuts that will lead to teacher layoffs, adding that he "added that he's angry at lawmakers for their inability to come up with a solution when teachers' jobs are on the line." Politico quotes him saying, "The fact that this is so easily avoidable is why I'm so angry. If folks would just work together, compromise, find the middle ground, we wouldn't put districts and families and children through this much trauma. It doesn't make any sense whatsoever." Politico notes that Duncan also pointed out that the sequestration cuts were designed never to be implemented, quoting him saying, "Sequester was set up to be painful to everybody, recognizing the dysfunction of Congress, to be so painful it would force people to come to the table. And the fact that people in Congress are so tone-deaf to what's really going on in their districts ... that to me is unimaginable." Politico (2/25, Munsil, 25K) makes similar mention of Duncan's "Face the Nation" appearance in a separate article about the sequestration debate.
CBS News (2/25) reports online that Duncan, speaking on "Face the Nation," said that "It's not 'rocket science' for Republican and Democratic lawmakers to find their way to the negotiating table with a plan to replace the 'dumb,' across-the-board cuts. ... Education services, in particular, will be hit with the sudden axe to the budget March 1. Head Start will be slashed by $406 million, booting 70,000 children from the program; special education will be cut by $840 million; up to 40,000 teachers and other school employees could face layoffs; and drastic cuts to the military will leave families employed under that umbrella inordinately unable to afford special services." This article also quotes Duncan extensively from his appearance.
The AP (2/22, Pace) reported, in a piece about President Obama's comments on Friday, that Duncan "told reporters Thursday he was increasingly worried that deep spending cuts would harm students and teachers across the country, saying that 'no one in their right mind would say this is good for kids or good for the country.' He also said that no one would have designed the automatic budget cuts on purpose."
Sequestration Debate Dominates Sunday Morning Shows. An analysis in the Christian Science Monitor (2/24, Knickerbocker, 47K) suggests that the main effort being put into the issue in Washington is assigning blame for the impasse between congressional Republicans and the Administration, saying the "finger-pointing began Saturday with President Obama's weekly radio/web address and the Republican response from Senator John Hoeven of North Dakota." Several paragraphs down, the Monitor reports that on "CBS's 'Face the Nation,' Education Secretary Arne Duncan warned of the impact just the threat of sequestration is having on his field." The article quotes Duncan saying, "There are literally teachers now who are getting pink slips, who are getting notices that they can't come back this fall."
The Los Angeles Times (2/25, West, 692K) runs an article on the sequestration debate on the Sunday shows, briefly noting Duncan's comments about looming teacher layoffs. Similarly, the New York Daily News (2/25, Hirschhorn, 543K) reports that "Washington is in full hysteria over who's to blame and just how bad it will really be. Democrats and Republicans took to the airwaves Sunday, each in a last-ditch attempt to blame the other for the so-called 'sequester' cuts and to debate the impact on Americans' everyday lives." This piece also relates Duncan's comments about teacher layoffs.
Duncan's appearance on "Face the Nation" is also noted in an AP (2/25, Elliott) article about Sunday's "unrelenting mudslinging" on the issue, focusing on the warnings over the weekend of members of the National Governor's Alliance. Bloomberg News (2/23, Selway, Bender), Roll Call (2/25, Lesniewski, Subscription Publication, 19K), the Washington Times (2/25, Lengell, 76K), an online FOX News (2/24) article, the CNN (2/24, Liptak) "Political Ticker" blog, and Reuters (2/21, Reuters) run sequestration articles with similar parenthetical mentions of Duncan's comments on sequestration. Dozens of local TV stations across the country are running reports on the sequestration debate that mention Duncan's comments, including WVVA-TV Bluefield, WV (2/25, 6:08 a.m. EST), WKYT-TV Lexington, KY (2/25, 6:06 a.m. EST), and WIBW-TV Topeka, KS (2/25, 5:05 a.m. EST).