Unemployment Benefit Extension Stalls in U.S. Senate

[tonysam]

Source: Bloomberg News

Oct. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Legislation to extend unemployment benefits is stalled in the U.S. Senate amid a partisan dispute over how to finance the plan, among other issues.

Republicans are blocking the measure that would extend benefits by as much as 20 weeks because they want votes on several amendments, including on how to pay for the $2.4 billion measure so it doesn’t add to the federal budget deficit. Democrats plan to finance the aid by extending an employer payroll surtax due to expire at the end of this year.

“We have wanted to do this for weeks and they won’t let us,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, told reporters yesterday. “We talk about doing something for economic recovery to stimulate the economy -- who is going to spend the money more quickly than somebody who is out of a job, doesn’t have income? That’s what the unemployment check’s about.”

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=abdI0IokR6FE

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Every single one of these people who are holding up this needed legislation needs to be thrown out of office.