"You're Doing a Heckuva Job, Brownie Maggie"

Last year, she all but guts NCLB in a reactionary effort to calm the states. This year she doesn't ask for enough money. Can't Secty Spellings get anything right? Not according to Capitol Hill lawmakers.

Last week, Senate LHHS appriators went after the lowball budget from the White House: A Grilling for Spellings (Inside HigherEd). In a Globe story (Election-year jitters threaten Bush budget), Chairman Specter went off on the proposed cutting of $4 billion, or more than 3 percent, from programs under Specter's jurisdiction.

This week, over on the House side, it got no better: Spellings again faces lawmakers' ire (Chronicle), House Panel Takes Its Shots (Inside HigherEd). But then the Senate decided it might just ignore the education budget request and do whatever it wants: Senate Ups the Ante (Inside Higher Ed).