Trumka: Budget Should Help Unemployed, Protect Government Workers and Pensions

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.aflcio.org/Blog/Political-Action-Legislation/Trumka-Budget-Should-Help-Unemployed-Protect-Government-Workers-and-Pensions

12/11/2013 Kenneth Quinnell

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka’s statement on the budget deal reached by congressional negotiators calls on Congress to extend unemployment benefits:

It is shocking that Republicans have refused to include an extension of unemployment benefits in today’s budget agreement. At the end of December, federal unemployment benefits will expire for 1.3 million jobless workers. Lawmakers must not desert these workers by going home for their own holidays without extending the federal unemployment benefits program.

The budget agreement negotiated by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) provides temporary relief from sequestration budget cuts over the next two years, but does not represent the clean break from budget austerity that our economy so urgently needs.



We applaud Sen. Murray for resisting Republican demands to cut Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare benefits, and food assistance for people with low incomes.

FULL story at link.