Little-Acorn
Well-Known Member
The media has been full of screaming reports of how Republicans have refused to vote for various Democrat plans to borrow even more money, to pay for extended benefits for the unemployed while adding hugely to our alread-soaring debt.
For some reason most of the media has failed to report on the Democrats refusing to vote for Republican plans to extend benefits for the unemployed, which do NOT borrow more money or add to the National Debt, but use money from the unspent funds from the failed "stimulus" programs.
And they have even failed to report on Republican plans to draw a compromise between the two sides, and pay extended benefits to the unemployed by borrowing PART of the mone, but not all of it, and so increase the National debt by less than the Democrats wanted to.
I'm glad we're getting such good reporting from our friends in the media. If we weren't, we might get the impression that Republicans are indifferent to the suffering of the unemployed.
And I'm sure the media wouldn't want to give that impression, considering that the Republicans have offered more ways to do it, with more versatility, than the Dems, who have refuse to vote for them and even kept some of those bills bottled up in committee, denying them even an up-or-down vote.
Would they?
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http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/p...to-extend-unemployment-benefits-97625324.html
Dems refuse compromise to extend unemployment benefits
by Susan Ferrechio
Chief Congressional Correspondent
July 2, 2010
Congress adjourns this week for the July Fourth recess without having passed a bill to extend unemployment insurance benefits to 1.3 million people who started losing them this month.
Democrats have been painting Republicans as unsympathetic to the long-term unemployed who will be unable to collect benefits, but Democratic leaders have rejected several offers by the GOP to vote for the bill if at least some of it is paid for.
"My concern is that the Democrats are more interested in having this issue to demagogue for political gamesmanship than they are in simply passing the benefits extension," said Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, who offered a deal that was rejected by Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
Democratic leaders were quick to attack Republicans for opposing the benefits, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., calling their opposition "just cruel" and "contrary to what our country is about."
Republicans, meanwhile, stood firm in their argument that extending benefits should not add to the deficit.
Voinovich told Reid he would vote for extending benefits if at least half of the extension could be paid for with unused money from the $787 billion stimulus package.
"I came to the table with a fair compromise, and the ball is in their court," said Voinovich, whose state suffers from a 10.7 percent unemployment rate.
The House passed a sixth-month extension on Thursday, but the Senate was long gone by then, having shut down early so that the late Sen. Robert Byrd's body could lie in repose in the chamber. Any future action by the Senate will have to wait until lawmakers return on July 12.
On Wednesday, the Senate rejected a measure to extend benefits, with most Republicans and one Democrat, Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., opposed to the bill because it would add more than $33 billion to the nation's $1.3 trillion deficit. The Senate came up just one vote short of passage, with Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, Maine Republicans, voting yes.
After the bill failed, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., offered a compromise that would extend benefits for two months and pay for it fully with unused stimulus funding. But Reid turned it down.
"The only reason the unemployment extension hasn't passed is because Democrats simply refuse to pass a bill that doesn't add to the debt," McConnell said. "That's it. That's the only difference between what they've offered and what we've offered."
For some reason most of the media has failed to report on the Democrats refusing to vote for Republican plans to extend benefits for the unemployed, which do NOT borrow more money or add to the National Debt, but use money from the unspent funds from the failed "stimulus" programs.
And they have even failed to report on Republican plans to draw a compromise between the two sides, and pay extended benefits to the unemployed by borrowing PART of the mone, but not all of it, and so increase the National debt by less than the Democrats wanted to.
I'm glad we're getting such good reporting from our friends in the media. If we weren't, we might get the impression that Republicans are indifferent to the suffering of the unemployed.
And I'm sure the media wouldn't want to give that impression, considering that the Republicans have offered more ways to do it, with more versatility, than the Dems, who have refuse to vote for them and even kept some of those bills bottled up in committee, denying them even an up-or-down vote.
Would they?
----------------------------------------------
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/p...to-extend-unemployment-benefits-97625324.html
Dems refuse compromise to extend unemployment benefits
by Susan Ferrechio
Chief Congressional Correspondent
July 2, 2010
Congress adjourns this week for the July Fourth recess without having passed a bill to extend unemployment insurance benefits to 1.3 million people who started losing them this month.
Democrats have been painting Republicans as unsympathetic to the long-term unemployed who will be unable to collect benefits, but Democratic leaders have rejected several offers by the GOP to vote for the bill if at least some of it is paid for.
"My concern is that the Democrats are more interested in having this issue to demagogue for political gamesmanship than they are in simply passing the benefits extension," said Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, who offered a deal that was rejected by Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
Democratic leaders were quick to attack Republicans for opposing the benefits, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., calling their opposition "just cruel" and "contrary to what our country is about."
Republicans, meanwhile, stood firm in their argument that extending benefits should not add to the deficit.
Voinovich told Reid he would vote for extending benefits if at least half of the extension could be paid for with unused money from the $787 billion stimulus package.
"I came to the table with a fair compromise, and the ball is in their court," said Voinovich, whose state suffers from a 10.7 percent unemployment rate.
The House passed a sixth-month extension on Thursday, but the Senate was long gone by then, having shut down early so that the late Sen. Robert Byrd's body could lie in repose in the chamber. Any future action by the Senate will have to wait until lawmakers return on July 12.
On Wednesday, the Senate rejected a measure to extend benefits, with most Republicans and one Democrat, Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., opposed to the bill because it would add more than $33 billion to the nation's $1.3 trillion deficit. The Senate came up just one vote short of passage, with Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, Maine Republicans, voting yes.
After the bill failed, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., offered a compromise that would extend benefits for two months and pay for it fully with unused stimulus funding. But Reid turned it down.
"The only reason the unemployment extension hasn't passed is because Democrats simply refuse to pass a bill that doesn't add to the debt," McConnell said. "That's it. That's the only difference between what they've offered and what we've offered."
