By Matt Laslo
Frankfort, KY – The US Senate is scheduled to vote Friday on a bill giving Kentucky extra money for teachers and emergency personnel. The White House says it will support thousands of jobs in the state, but as Kentucky Public Radio's Matt Laslo reports, Republicans have their doubts.
Democrats are changing their strategy after Republicans blocked debate on the president's nearly half a trillion dollar jobs package last week. Now they want to take the legislation apart and vote up or down on individual portions of the plan. The first section to be dissected is a new portion of money for emergency personal and teachers. The White House claims the thirty five billion dollar proposal will support up to six thousand educators in Kentucky alone. But Kentucky Republican Senator Rand Paul says the numbers are fishy.
"My understanding was that teachers salaries are funded usually by state funding. So I don't know how this would why any teachers would lose their jobs because I think their salaries are through state money. So I think it's probably a distortion of the facts."
The White House say the jobs numbers come from nonpartisan budget analysts and not Democratic administration officials.