What's Really at Stake in the Fight to Extend Unemployment Benefits

[Joanne98]

The economy is on everyone's mind today, and it's no wonder. Unemployment is around 9.5 percent. People who have jobs are afraid to leave them. The housing market is still recovering, and millions of Americans are facing foreclosure despite being employed full time. Everywhere you go, you hear about struggles as much as successes.

Different lawmakers have very different responses to the crisis we're facing - a crisis that has cost us approximately 8 million lost jobs and $17 trillion in lost retirement savings and net worth. The House and Senate are set to vote on an extension of unemployment insurance benefits this week that would last until Nov. 30. This measure would offer continued assistance to about 2.5 million unemployed Americans whose benefits have run out. I intend to vote for it. Republican leaders in both chambers oppose it on the grounds that extending these benefits will unacceptably increase the national budget deficit.

Let's put the GOP's version of fiscal responsibility in context. The House-Senate compromise bill extends federal funding for unemployment benefits for four months. The final cost is expected to be about $34 billion. Compare that to the combined cost of a single month's military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan: $12.2 billion in February, according to Pentagon figures. As I write this, our presence in Iraq has cost us $734.5 billion - the number will be higher by the time you read it. The figure in Afghanistan is $284.6 billion.

Which is the more responsible path? We can tell our unemployed neighbors "Tough luck, you're not trying hard enough," or we can start looking at the real reasons for our budget anxiety. Any member of Congress who claims to be fiscally responsible can't turn that responsibility on and off like a faucet. The costs of our wars - not to mention the unnecessary defense contracts that have no bearing on national security - are a blight on the national ledger. But no supposed deficit hawks have been willing to say as much. Instead, the unemployed just need to tighten their belts, be more responsible and suck it up.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/raul-m-grijalva/whats-really-at-stake-in_b_655520.html

[dtexdem]

1. Everything -- the extension is the absolute minimum that Dems should accomplish.

But they need to accomplish much more.

[paparush]

2. $600+ Billion to extend Bush's tax cuts for the rich VS $30+ Billion for the working class.

The fact that there's even a debate, that the Repubs got any traction at all, points to a failure of Dem leadership.