States struggling to balance their budgets and considering lay offs of public employees are expected to receive a measure of relief Tuesday as House lawmakers are expected to pass a state aid bill designed to save hundreds of thousands of jobs.

In an extraordinary move, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) called the lower chamber back to Washington from recess in order to hold a one-day session to pass a $26 billion jobs bill. The need to suddenly call lawmakers back to the Capitol emerged last week after the Senate unexpectedly passed similar legislation.

“As millions of children prepare to go back to school — many in just a few days — the House will act quickly to approve this legislation once the Senate votes,” Pelosi said in a statement last week.

Democrats say the bill will provide states with much-need relief and save the jobs of 300,000 teachers, firefighters and police officers.

Of the $26 billion, $10 billion would be directed toward education and saving the jobs of roughly 160,000 teachers. Another $16 billion would be allocated for state Medicare funding.

Even with the $26 billion, states are still facing massive budget shortfalls. According to The National Governor’s Association, states are facing budget deficits $116 billion through 2012. And unlike the federal government, states do not have the luxury of running budget deficits.

Because of the need to show fiscal responsibility, state and local governments have already lost 170,000 jobs this year.

Republicans have criticized the bill, complaining about how it is paid for and trying to portray the measure as a bailout for states and Democratic allied labor unions.

“The American people don’t want more Washington ‘stimulus’ spending, especially in the form of a pay-off to union bosses and liberal special interests,” House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) said in a statement last week when Pelosi called House lawmakers back to work.

Nearly the entire cost of the bill is covered by closing tax loopholes on multinational corporations. The tax loophole was originally designed to prevent double taxation but has been abused over the years by multinational corporations to offset unrelated foreign income.

Republicans, however, do not see the measure as merely closing a tax loophole. In their eyes, it is nothing more than a job-killing tax increase.

On the other side of the aisle, Democratic leaders say the fact that Republicans are not willing to ask tax-cheating multinational corporations to meet their financial obligations to the U.S. Treasury under the law in order to save the jobs of thousands of teachers, police officers and firefighters, shows the stark contrast between the two political parties heading into November’s midterm elections.

“We’re coming back because it makes no sense from a jobs perspective, and it makes no sense from the perspective of our children’s education, to have an insufficient number of teachers in the classroom. I mean, it’s as simple as that,” Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said in a press release.

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