Jobless aid to expire; effort fails in Senate

[ProSense]

Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Jobless benefits were due to lapse yet again for hundreds of thousands of Americans after an effort to extend them failed in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday.

Hours before beefed-up benefits were set to expire at midnight, Democrats sought to extend them for another year. But they were blocked by Republican Senator Scott Brown, who said Democrats should have taken time to work out a compromise.

"It's not the way to do business in the United States Senate, and if it is it needs to change," Brown said. "We just found out today, or late yesterday, that we were even going to talk about this."

With the unemployment rate stuck at around 9.6 percent, the two parties have been sharply divided over how to cover the cost of weekly checks, averaging around $300, that help jobless people stay afloat.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101130/bs_nm/us_usa_congress_unemployment_1

[Jackpine Radical]

1. Gee--and there was a time when I thought the Democrats were a majority.

[mbperrin]

2. So Scott Brown is stupid as well as mean.

A mere mortal, I, have known this deadline for weeks and weeks and weeks now.

So is he stupider, meaner, or about even in those two categories.

Oh, and a big FUCK YOU to all of the politicians who let this lapse.

And no, I am not unemployed. But I don't believe in fighting two useless wars AND starving those without jobs at the same time.

[tomm2thumbs]

4. someone who sells their naked body for easy money will also sell their soul

hence Scott Brown

[saigon68]

36. Hey welcome to Obama-time

A Place where no Defense Contractor is left behind and Thousands of New Gold Star Mothers are made annually for Corporate Greed

[Andy823]

3. All about the tax breaks for the rich!

These assholes can't vote for something that will help those who really need it unless it's "PAID FOR", but they can push for tax cuts for the rich without finding a way to pay for it! May they all rot in hell!

[Ginto]

5. So we'll finally get to see these legendary repuke economic policies in action.

Unemployment will surely now drop that all the lazy people will now have to get jobs. :sarcasm:

Unfreakinbelievable.

[True_Blue]

26. Yes, millions of new jobs will be instantly created....

as soon as the jobless lose their benefits. :sarcasm:

[saigon68]

37. I hope the Food Banks have lots of Turkey and CHRISTMAS TRIMMINGS

[katty]

6. Scott Brown resign - and start looking for a job

[onehandle]

7. He needs to dig out those pink leather shorts.

He'll need them pretty soon.

And unemployment benefits.

[savalez]

20. I bet Brown is a one termer.

[quakerboy]

27. Thats the thing

He could. It ism't people like that feeling the pain

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

8. To those of you who falsely believed that Scott Brown wouldn't be "so bad"

like Randi Rhodes, what do you think now?

Still think Scott Brown isn't part of the wingnut brigade? He has to get reelected in two years. That means fall down before the teabagger brigade.

It's sickening!! :puke:

[ProfessionalLeftist]

9. I want to hear from the Pigs how they intend to cover the cost of continued tax cuts for the rich

?

[Ruperto31]

31. They will keep on printing money.

This is inflationary, but they will keep inflation down by by the use of economic terrorism against the working class.

Doesn't the prospect of 99 weeks of living below subsistence followed by total impoverishment make you want to keep your job? Wouldn't you rather work for less than not work at all? That's the choice that I and other employees made where I work.

This is capitalist "discipline" for the workforce, courtesy of their bought-and paid-for lackeys in the government.

[A-Long-Little-Doggie]

10. I tried to call my Republican Senator today

but Sen. Brown's voicemail box was full. Guess I wasn't the only one.

Asshole.

[barbtries]

11. republicans are pigs

i hope the people losing benefits will know who stuck it to them.

[niyad]

12. you shouldn't insult the pigs like that. I don't think there is any creature on earth that deserves

to be equated with these soul-dead, heartless, hateful wastes of resources.

[barbtries]

14. i stand corrected.

republicans are...are...republicans!

[tpsbmam]

13. :'-(

:cry: :cry: :scared:

[DimplesinMI]

15. Not Surprised and I am President Obama continues to look WEAK!

I was a little kid when President Jimmy Carter was in office but I truly believe there could have been NOT WAY that he appeared this weak, as opposed to President Obama, right?

I am joining the call for a primary challenge for Obama. This is getting crazy.

[CatWoman]

17. I don't understand your point

if anything, this makes the Republicans look like petty, vindictive assholes.

[savalez]

18. Exactly.

[savalez]

19. Are you for real? The blame goes to Brown and the Pubs.

[Name removed]

21. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[groundloop]

23. President Obama could preach from the bully pulpit 'till he passes out, repukes will still obstruct

That's the tactic they've chosen, and with the dumb-ass fillibuster rules in the senate we're pretty much screwed.

ALL of us, every Democratic congress person, every individual needs to be writing letters to the editor, posting about this crap on local chat sites, let the world know what the bastards are up to. Shooting ourselves in a circular fiting squad isn't going to do anything.

[tabasco]

40. Your post indicates

a lack of thinking ability.

[Bobbieo]

16. Merry 'fuckin' Christmas!!!

[wisteria]

22. What the hell is there to discuss? These benefits are needed and anyone who opposes them

are either doing so for political reasons,or simply, cruel and uncaring.

[karynnj]

28. Brown was near incoherent in his speech

Apparently, he was mad that they worked on the food safety bill. He claimed they did no bills for the economy. (I guess he forgot that he voted against many of them!) It would be great if even a portion of the speech was on MA TV - let's just say that just as his politics are the opposite of Kennedy and Kerry - so his his ability to give a coherent, logical persuasive speech.

Here is the nearly incoherent Brown.
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/videoLibrary/clip.php?appid=599221007

[karynnj]

30. Even Matt Viser in the Boston Globe, who has been a major Brown fan really reported his

on his action here.

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2010/11/brown_gives_fei.html?comments=all

The Globe usually gets a lot of RW comments - here, almost everyone is attacking him. (It details a lot of his incoherent speech emphasizing that he stressed the importance in acting on the ESTATE TAX, which affects almost no one.

[sakabatou]

24. Scrooges!

[sakabatou]

25. So when the fuck will this come back up to vote?

[laconicsax]

29. Where would the compromise be on this issue?

Dem position: Extend benefits
Repub position: Don't extend benefits.

While I may not be fully informed as to the intricacies of the matter, it doesn't look like there's a middle ground.

[Ruperto31]

32. Extend it for two months. That would be a compromise.

I'll bet it will be something like that.

[laconicsax]

39. There's no change in position with that.

The two sides are still:

Dems--Extend benefits.
Repubs--Don't extend benefits.

[Ruperto31]

41. But they like to kick the can down the road.

They've repeatedly done this for a while now.

[Dulcinea]

33. Millions To Lose Unemployment Benefits

Source: NPR

Things just got worse for the millions of Americans who have been unemployed for up to 99 weeks. At the stroke of midnight Tuesday, a short-term extension of jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed expired as Democrats and Republicans in Congress failed to agree on how those benefits should be further extended.

Congress decided last July to extend long-term unemployment insurance only until the end of November. November has now given way to December, and West Virginia Democratic Sen. John D. Rockefeller lamented that those benefits have run out, just in time for the holiday season. "I feel terrible about it, particularly in West Virginia where everybody's fighting to survive all the time. And we have to do it," he said. "Why we haven't done it I don't know."

The House has already tried once — and failed — in the current lame-duck session to extend the jobless benefits. In the Senate, the No. 2 Democrat, Dick Durbin, appeared stricken Tuesday when asked what that chamber planned to do about 2 million people losing their jobless benefits. "There's just no current ... plan or schedule for extending these benefits and I think this is just wrong," he said.

The expiring benefits were not even mentioned by Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell when he spoke of the meeting he and other congressional leaders had Tuesday with President Obama at the White House. "I think the one thing we clearly agreed on is that first, that we ought to resolve what the tax rates are going to be for the American people beginning next year," he said.



Read more: http://www.npr.org/2010/11/30/131713002/millions-to-lose-unemployment-benefits

---

Where's the concern for the deficit when it's time to extend tax cuts for the wealthy? Oh, wait...

[Raoul]

34. Mitch is right

NOT. Yeah, get those tax cuts for the greedy 2% because we can't afford not to give them more money. But we simply can't afford to help those in need. After all, doesn't the bible say 'God helps those who help themselves'?

All I gotta say is fuck this country. Fuck the flag. And fuck all the wars that they seem to be able to afford. I'm out of here. I've dropped the fuck out and nothing will bring me back in except for a fucking revolution.

[Lasher]

35. McConnell keeps repeating that lameass talking point about tax uncertainty.

If he were homeless for awhile maybe he could learn what uncertainty is really like.

[CBHagman]

38. Just called Brown's office and you can too.

Contact information for Scott Brown:

http://scottbrown.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contactscott?p=EmailScottBrown

2400 JFK Federal Building
Boston, MA 02203
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

317 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington D.C. 20510
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

You have to have a lot of chutzpah, or maybe no heart, to scream that a temporary extension of jobless benefits must be paid for while you are demanding indefinite extension of tax cuts for people who make unbelievably high incomes.