Unemployment extension still waiting for Senate action

[tonysam]

Now isn't THIS cute? From the article:

Advocates for the unemployed say Republicans have indicated they have eight amendments they want added onto the bill. As of late Friday, they'd filed language for six of them.

Once all the amendments are filed, Senate leaders will have to work out a deal to get the bill moving. In Florida, officials estimate that about 52,000 people have already used up their jobless benefits and another 200,000 or so will do so by the end of the year.

Unlike earlier extensions, there are no plans at this point to make the benefits retroactive. So every week that passes without a new extension is a week of lost payments to folks who are exhausting their benefits.
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link

These assholes are allowed to put in amendments when people are going without?

Where the hell are the protests, by the way?

[spanone]

1. damn, if we only had a democratic congress, we would......oh, nevermind

[tonysam]

2. Get a load of two of the comments following that article

One commenter:

First the Democrats held it up - Shaheen held everyone else up because at the last minute she woke up and wanted to include all states, then the Republicans held it up - Kyl wanted to read it. So it's BOTH parties. It's practically a full month since the House passed it. I called Reid's office again this morning and asked when they would be voting on it. They said McConnell was holding it up. I called McConnell's office and they said Reid needed to schedule it. I called Shaheen's office, the one who started this whole mess, and they said the Republicans were holding it up. Classic runaround. Hundreds of thousands of people have lost their benefits weeks ago, some months ago. In the next few years I am going to vote every incumbant out. These people do not deserve to be in office. Maybe then they'll listen.
Meanwhile, please call these people and ask when will they be voting on it please. Maybe if we all call they'll get sick of us.
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Another one:



Bill, there is plenty of blame to go around but you must be watching a different CSPAN than I am. I've been watching the senate and they are not spending 100% of their time on healthcare. They have been pleading for cooperation on the unemployment bill – can't post links here --see YouTube under Dick Durbin and Unemployment for an excerpt.).


Week before last the Democrats believed they had an agreement on the extension, to give all states an additional 14 weeks plus 6 weeks for high unemployment states. Then Democrats tried to get quick approval using the unanimous consent method of passage, but Republican Senator Kyl objected saying they need more time to study the bill. Kyl himself acknowledged it would eventually pass. Senator Kyl defends his position “acting in his role as minority whip" on his website. Now there is talk of by the Republicans of gunking up the measure with more things, like the home buying extension and other measures.


Apparently now the Republicans are ready to move, according to statements made over the weekend on news programs. Noted in a New York Times article "Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, said Republicans are getting ready to clear the way for the unemployment benefit extension as long as some Republican amendments are aired." and "Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, the ranking Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, said he believes procedural differences holding up an extension of unemployment benefits will be resolved soon." They have been playing games for some larger purpose. While they are playing games, people are suffering.

Really sad – we can get cash for clunkers over a weekend but not a bill to help people with families who can’t find jobs. Unemployment compensation will simultaneously stimulate and support the economy far more than “cash for clunkers” ever will. I guess it’s the beneficiary of the bills that makes the difference – ordinary Americans or big business.
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It's all about procedural rules and amendments. Meanwhile, people go without.

And the thing will have to be extended AGAIN because there are no jobs to be had.

[tonysam]

3. Kick for the latest outrage n/t

[tonysam]

4. A good editorial from Oregon

link


Snip:

Republican critics of extended unemployment insurance say it can be a disincentive to looking for work - an argument that overlooks the wasteland that the job market remains in Oregon and most other states. An estimated 5 million people have been without jobs for six months or more - a record since data started being kept six decades ago.

Critics also claim extending benefits at a time the economy is recovering is counterproductive. But unemployment benefits are one of the most effective forms of short-term stimulus. The average state jobless check is $300 a month, and unemployed Americans plow that money back into the economy, paying rent and buying food and other necessities.

Meanwhile, the Obama administration and members of Congress are discussing ways to accelerate job creation. Options include giving employers tax credits for new hires and allowing more businesses to deduct their net operating losses going back five years instead of the usual two.

The administration and Congress are right to be concerned about creating new jobs - and preventing the loss of existing jobs. Economists predict that the nation's unemployment rate will pass 10 percent before job growth kicks in, mid-2010 at the earliest. Oregon traditionally has higher rates of unemployment than the national average, and it lags behind the rest of the nation in recovering from recessions.
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What can one expect from an exclusive club full of millionaires?

[tonysam]

5. Another kick for those lazy so-and-sos in the U.S. Senate n/t

[Raineyb]

6. Once again our representatives drag their feet while real people suffer

but then so many of them are millionaires I guess it doesn't affect them all that much.

[tonysam]

7. Or they play these stupid procedural games

People's lives are not some kind of game.