In the News

Texas public schools need at least $40 billion this biennium to reach the national per-student funding average. Texas has this money sitting in our treasury. Yet, rather than investing that in our students, Governor Abbott is focused on a taxpayer-funded voucher plan that would divert money from public schools and send it to unaccountable private schools that select choice students.

In this guest article, Republican former State Board of Education Vice Chair Thomas Ratliff points out that the first version of a voucher proposal in Texas was a response to Brown v. Board of Education. At the time, vouchers were proposed to allow parents who opposed integration to send their children to segregated private schools

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Ben Cardin (D-Md.) announced Tuesday he would block U.S. military aid to Egypt, citing the country’s deteriorating human-rights record.

This is a fascinating development following the indictment of Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), whom Cardin replaced as chair of the powerful panel.

The new chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Ben Cardin (D-Md.), has sent an important message to Egypt about its abuse of human rights.

KEEP THAT FENCE AROUND THE FUNDING: A government shutdown feels exceedingly close — just over a week away, if it actually happens — which means that officials up and down Pennsylvania Avenue are deep into their preparations.

Democrats in the House and Senate on Tuesday introduced a bill to curb plastic waste by imposing a new tax on U.S. manufacturers, producers and importers of “virgin plastic” resin destined for single-use plastics.