School Construction Funding is a Test for Cooper

The moment that Tennessee's Jim Cooper has been waiting for his here. Senate Republicans and "Centrists" have stripped down the House version of the stimulus plan that he opposed, and now the Senate and House will meet to come up with a compromise. Cooper acted on a suggestion he made to the Wall Street Journal in January and joined House Republicans to vote against the original stimulus package passed by the House.

Some of the stimulus that the Senate stripped from the bill was funding that would have paid for new public school construction, which could create educational opportunities for kids and put more construction workers back to work.

Will Jim Cooper be an advocate for Tennessee public schools by pushing for the return of stripped school construction funds to the compromise? Or will he continue to strive for the dubious praise of homeschooling Republicans?