Andy Rotherham --also known as the EduWonk -- defends the school construction funding as both short-term stimulus and long-term investment. He makes a good case. But that's easy enough to do. What I'd like to see is for someone to make the opposite case. School construction was one of the few items fully eliminated from the legislation. Most others simply saw their funding cut. And it was big ticket, too: Almost $20 billion. Meanwhile, the AMT patch -- a $70 billion tax credit that gives 99.% percent of its benefits to the top 40 percent and thus is almost useless as a form of stimulus -- remains in the bill. So, um, why? I'm half ready to believe that Rahm convinced Ben Nelson to ratfuck the Republicans. "Get them to cut school construction for poor kids," he (might have) told a visibly nervous Nelson. "It's schools for kids. You couldn't get more sympathetic unless all the kids had cancer. It's clear stimulus. It makes sense long-term. It's easy for reporters to understand and voters to remember. It undermines Republican attempts to paint the bill as a porkfest, completely discredit the centrists, and Nancy Pelosi will simply replenish the funds in conference committee." Then he bit the head off a bear, punched through a wall, and asked Nelson if he was sure he didn't mind helping out.
