Need more proof that priorities in Washington, D.C., are out of whack? Look no further than the lack of a resolution celebrating School Bus Safety Week.
On Nov. 6, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution honoring the New York Yankees for just days earlier beating the Philadelphia Phillies in six games to win the 2009 World Series. Meanwhile, school districts had just emerged from National School Bus Safety Week, the unofficial recognition of the yellow school bus safety record and the fine work day in and day out of more than 650,000 professionals. Yet, there was no House resolution honoring them.
Industry insiders have shared that, in fact, this year’s deliberations on getting a School Bus Safety Week Resolution passed through Congress failed because the House felt that the Yankees feat was more deserving of recognition. Or at least more political. At least 17 representatives voted “nay” and another 30 members either voted “Present” or fully abstained from voting, “unable to bring themselves to honor the guys in pinstripes,” according to the blog OhMyGov!
I guess Rep. Jose Serrano [D-NY16], who sponsored the resolution honoring his hometown Bronx Bombers, doesn’t think (or know) he has any school buses operating in his district?
While the “Evil Empire,” as fans of other Major League Baseball teams like to call the Yankees, were celebrating in a bath of champagne, too many school districts across the country didn’t even have enough money to even buy breakfast for their bus drivers in celebration of School Bus Safety Week. A former sports reporter, I’m as big of a sports fan as there is. But certainly our national priorities are askew.
Granted, if you’ve ever been to your local ballpark when the Yankees were in town, it would seem like there are more than 25 million fans of the New York pinstripes. But considering the same number of children ride the school bus each day plus their parents, immediate family, friends, etc., one would think such truly beneficial public service would trump the exploits of a baseball team.
Obviously not.
It all comes down to money and power, synonyms that do not describe the school bus industry. While the Yankees have by leaps and bounds the most highly paid players in the Majors, and their owner George Steinbrenner retains an iron grip on his industry despite turning the day-to-day operations over to his sons, the school bus industry fights tooth and nail not to increase its piece of the federal funding pie but to vie for a seat at the table — or for that matter sit in the same room.
