From PRI, Public Radio International and KCRW Santa Monica, this is To the Point.

Public employee benefits and Republican politics.

Hello again, I'm Armin Alney, and this is To the Point from Public Radio International.

A daily look at the issues Americans care about most.

Between the

amount states have promised their workers and the money they have to pay, the gap totals no less

than a trillion dollars. That's big trouble for both governments and their employees, but it's

music to Republican strategists who've prepared for years to exploit the issue. Even Democratic

governors are demanding concessions, but some Republicans are

challenging public sector unions themselves and their right to bargain. Will there be a political

backlash if private sector voters identify police officers, firefighters, and teachers as partners

in the besieged middle class? A reporter's notebook letter on the Wall Street Meltdown and the Oscars.

First, here's the news.

Support for To the Point comes from subscribers of KCRW Santa Monica and from the Public Radio

International Program Fund, whose contributors include the Ford Foundation and the John

D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Hello again, Warren Alney, back with To the Point.

Republican governors are challenging the benefits won by public sector unions,

but a poll out today suggests a possible backlash.

What would that mean for governors like New Jersey's Chris Christie,

who's made national headlines by vilifying teachers' unions?

On reporter's notebook, the Oscar winner for Best Documentary

...