U.S. House passes Education Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act

HONOLULU—The U.S. House voted 247 to 161 to pass H.R. 1586, the Education Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act, which passed the Senate on August 5.

Lawmakers flew in for special session in order to vote on the bill, which is intended to help states avoid teacher and staff layoffs in the coming school year and provide a $16 billion increase in funding for Medicaid reimbursements.

“This bill means more than $100 million to Hawaii to help keep teachers on the job and to help the state pay for Medicaid,” said Hawaii Congresswoman Mazie Hirono, who voted in favor of the bill. “The bill is paid for, and the bill’s opponents know this. One of the ways we pay for the bill is by closing a tax loophole that is used by corporations shipping jobs overseas. In fact, some are voting against this bill because of this tax provision. I’m voting to support working families in America and to end incentives to move jobs out of America.”

Hawaii Congressman Charles Djou voted against a measure to move the bill forward today.

Associated Press reported that Djou said he specifically opposes financing the bill by eliminating tax credits for overseas income of multinational corporations and by cutting almost $12 billion for nutrition assistance to the poor beginning in 2014.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said at a news conference today that the bill’s passage will save or create 300,000 jobs.

Think tank New Foundation America blogs about how the education funds might be spent and provides a table listing the amount of jobs that would be saved by state. According to their calculations, Hawaii would receive $39 million and save 554 jobs.