Republicans who don't "have any problem spending hundreds of billions of dollars on tax breaks for the wealthiest American are now saying we shouldn’t offer relief to middle class Americans," President Obama
By H. Nelson Goodson
July 19, 2010
Washington D.C. – On Tuesday, the U.S. Congress will once again try to pass federal extended unemployment benefits for 2.5 million jobless Americans whose benefits have ran out. The Republicans in Congress have blocked extended benefits three times forcing Americans who are unemployed through no fault of their own, to face losing the roof on their heads and can't affort to pay monthly ultilities and buy food for their children.
The lack of extended unemployment benefits support by Republicans has forced President Barack H. Obama to address the issue and call on Republicans to end the block of extended benefits to jobless Americans who continue to look for work.
Republicans and the G.O.P. are accused of using Washington politics to block benefits, according to Democrats and President Obama.
Democrats believe they have the needed votes to pass the federal extended unemployment benefits on Tuesday, even if the Republicans try to block it once again.
On Tuesday afternoon, West Virginia U.S. Senator Clarke Goodwin (Dem) will be sworn in and within minutes the Senate will take up the unemployment benefit bill to approve it. Goodwin will provide the 60th crucial vote to pass the bill.
On Monday, the Whitehouse provided a press release on Monday's Rose Garden public address on the unemployment benefit issue by the President. Today, President Obama called on Congress to extend critical unemployment insurance to millions of Americans looking for a job. The U.S. Senate on Tuesday will vote on extending unemployment benefits for Americans still struggling to find work and overcome the lingering effects of the recession. In the three previous efforts, Senate Republicans have blocked the extension of emergency relief for the unemployed. Across the country, this stonewalling has already blocked assistance to 2.5 million Americans, and hundreds of thousands more are impacted by each additional week of delay.
The President also highlighted that many Republicans have previously supported unemployment extensions under Republican administration, but refuse to offer relief to middle class families today. Many of these Republicans want to extend hundreds of billions of dollars in tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans while telling working families that we can’ afford to help them when they need it most.
President Obama said, "who need emergency relief to help them pay the rent, cover their utilities, and put food on the table while they look for another job. For a long time, there’s been a tradition – under both Democratic and Republican presidents – to offer relief to the unemployed. That was certainly the case under my predecessor, when Republican Senators voted several times to extend emergency unemployment benefits.
But right now, these benefits – benefits that are often a person’s sole source of income while they’re out of work – are in jeopardy. After years of championing policies that turned a record surplus into a massive deficit, the same people who didn’t have any problem spending hundreds of billions of dollars on tax breaks for the wealthiest American are now saying we shouldn’t offer relief to middle class Americans...
Over the past few weeks, a majority of Senators have tried – not once, not twice, but three times – to extend emergency relief on a temporary basis. And each time, a partisan minority in the Senate has used parliamentary maneuvers to block a vote, denying millions of people who are out of work much-needed relief. Republican leaders in the Senate are advancing a misguided notion that emergency relief somehow discourages people from looking for a job.
Well, I think that reflects a lack of faith in the American people. The Americans I hear from in letters and meet in town halls – Americans like the ones here today – they aren’t looking for a handout. It’s not that they don’t want to work. They desperately do. They just can’t find a job. They’re honest, decent, hardworking folks who’ve fallen on hard times through no fault of their own; who have nowhere else to turn except unemployment benefits; who need emergency relief to help them weather this economic storm.
Tomorrow, we’ll have another chance offer them that relief; to do right and I hope we seize it. It’s time to stop holding workers laid off in this recession hostage to Washington politics. It’s time to do what’s right – not for the next election, but for the middle class. It’s time to stop blocking emergency relief for Americans who are out of work and extend unemployment insurance, and that’ what I hope Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle do," President Obama said.
At the White House, the President was joined by three Americans in need of the extension who shared their story
• Jim Chukalas, from Fredon Township, NJ, was laid off as a part manager at a Honda dealership in 2008. He ran out of Tier III benefits and his Tier IV expired two weeks ago because Congress has failed to act. Jim has persistently searched for work and fights to keep his spirit up for his family’s sake.
• Leslie Macko, from Charlottesville, VA, lost her job as an aesthetician in 2009. She received, and exhausted, Virginia unemployment compensation benefits. She has also exhausted her Tier I benefits and had 4.9 weeks of Tier II EUC for which she is eligible. However, there has been a 6-week delay in the Tier II benefits and once she receive these benefits, she will not be eligible for additional unemployment insurance. She has persistently searched for work, and continues to do so. To pay her rent, utilities, food, and other expenses she has had to borrow money from her father on a monthly basis.
• Denise Gibson from Queens, NY, was laid off as a maintenance supervisor in January and has been receiving unemployment insurance benefits since February. She will receive the benefits only until August unless the extension is passed. She is currently late on her rent and due back in housing court in early August. She is interviewing for jobs and has plans to go to nursing school later this year.
ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND
Federal unemployment insurance provisions expired on June 4th. The Republicans’ refusal to act has already blocked assistance to 2.5 million Americans, and hundreds of thousands more are impacted by each additional week of delay.
There also is a broader economic imperative to extending these benefits Independent assessments from the National Federation of Independent Businesses and the Duke University/CFO Magazine survey have cited sales concerns and weak product demand as the largest concerns voiced by small businesses and corporate financial officers. The Duke survey found that 36.4 percent of the CFOs believed that weak consumer demand was the top macro concern for their corporation – more than 18 percentage points higher than any other listed concern.
Extending unemployment benefits expands local purchasing power Economist Mark Zandi of Moody’s Economy.com put the economic multiplier of extending a dollar of unemployment benefits at 1.6 meaning that, for every dollar spent on unemployment compensation $1.60 is added to our economy’s output. Similarly, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office places the multiplier in a range between 0.8 and 2.1.
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By H. Nelson Goodson
July 19, 2010
Washington D.C. – On Tuesday, the U.S. Congress will once again try to pass federal extended unemployment benefits for 2.5 million jobless Americans whose benefits have ran out. The Republicans in Congress have blocked extended benefits three times forcing Americans who are unemployed through no fault of their own, to face losing the roof on their heads and can't affort to pay monthly ultilities and buy food for their children.
The lack of extended unemployment benefits support by Republicans has forced President Barack H. Obama to address the issue and call on Republicans to end the block of extended benefits to jobless Americans who continue to look for work.
Republicans and the G.O.P. are accused of using Washington politics to block benefits, according to Democrats and President Obama.
Democrats believe they have the needed votes to pass the federal extended unemployment benefits on Tuesday, even if the Republicans try to block it once again.
On Tuesday afternoon, West Virginia U.S. Senator Clarke Goodwin (Dem) will be sworn in and within minutes the Senate will take up the unemployment benefit bill to approve it. Goodwin will provide the 60th crucial vote to pass the bill.
On Monday, the Whitehouse provided a press release on Monday's Rose Garden public address on the unemployment benefit issue by the President. Today, President Obama called on Congress to extend critical unemployment insurance to millions of Americans looking for a job. The U.S. Senate on Tuesday will vote on extending unemployment benefits for Americans still struggling to find work and overcome the lingering effects of the recession. In the three previous efforts, Senate Republicans have blocked the extension of emergency relief for the unemployed. Across the country, this stonewalling has already blocked assistance to 2.5 million Americans, and hundreds of thousands more are impacted by each additional week of delay.
The President also highlighted that many Republicans have previously supported unemployment extensions under Republican administration, but refuse to offer relief to middle class families today. Many of these Republicans want to extend hundreds of billions of dollars in tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans while telling working families that we can’ afford to help them when they need it most.
President Obama said, "who need emergency relief to help them pay the rent, cover their utilities, and put food on the table while they look for another job. For a long time, there’s been a tradition – under both Democratic and Republican presidents – to offer relief to the unemployed. That was certainly the case under my predecessor, when Republican Senators voted several times to extend emergency unemployment benefits.
But right now, these benefits – benefits that are often a person’s sole source of income while they’re out of work – are in jeopardy. After years of championing policies that turned a record surplus into a massive deficit, the same people who didn’t have any problem spending hundreds of billions of dollars on tax breaks for the wealthiest American are now saying we shouldn’t offer relief to middle class Americans...
Over the past few weeks, a majority of Senators have tried – not once, not twice, but three times – to extend emergency relief on a temporary basis. And each time, a partisan minority in the Senate has used parliamentary maneuvers to block a vote, denying millions of people who are out of work much-needed relief. Republican leaders in the Senate are advancing a misguided notion that emergency relief somehow discourages people from looking for a job.
Well, I think that reflects a lack of faith in the American people. The Americans I hear from in letters and meet in town halls – Americans like the ones here today – they aren’t looking for a handout. It’s not that they don’t want to work. They desperately do. They just can’t find a job. They’re honest, decent, hardworking folks who’ve fallen on hard times through no fault of their own; who have nowhere else to turn except unemployment benefits; who need emergency relief to help them weather this economic storm.
Tomorrow, we’ll have another chance offer them that relief; to do right and I hope we seize it. It’s time to stop holding workers laid off in this recession hostage to Washington politics. It’s time to do what’s right – not for the next election, but for the middle class. It’s time to stop blocking emergency relief for Americans who are out of work and extend unemployment insurance, and that’ what I hope Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle do," President Obama said.
At the White House, the President was joined by three Americans in need of the extension who shared their story
• Jim Chukalas, from Fredon Township, NJ, was laid off as a part manager at a Honda dealership in 2008. He ran out of Tier III benefits and his Tier IV expired two weeks ago because Congress has failed to act. Jim has persistently searched for work and fights to keep his spirit up for his family’s sake.
• Leslie Macko, from Charlottesville, VA, lost her job as an aesthetician in 2009. She received, and exhausted, Virginia unemployment compensation benefits. She has also exhausted her Tier I benefits and had 4.9 weeks of Tier II EUC for which she is eligible. However, there has been a 6-week delay in the Tier II benefits and once she receive these benefits, she will not be eligible for additional unemployment insurance. She has persistently searched for work, and continues to do so. To pay her rent, utilities, food, and other expenses she has had to borrow money from her father on a monthly basis.
• Denise Gibson from Queens, NY, was laid off as a maintenance supervisor in January and has been receiving unemployment insurance benefits since February. She will receive the benefits only until August unless the extension is passed. She is currently late on her rent and due back in housing court in early August. She is interviewing for jobs and has plans to go to nursing school later this year.
ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND
Federal unemployment insurance provisions expired on June 4th. The Republicans’ refusal to act has already blocked assistance to 2.5 million Americans, and hundreds of thousands more are impacted by each additional week of delay.
There also is a broader economic imperative to extending these benefits Independent assessments from the National Federation of Independent Businesses and the Duke University/CFO Magazine survey have cited sales concerns and weak product demand as the largest concerns voiced by small businesses and corporate financial officers. The Duke survey found that 36.4 percent of the CFOs believed that weak consumer demand was the top macro concern for their corporation – more than 18 percentage points higher than any other listed concern.
Extending unemployment benefits expands local purchasing power Economist Mark Zandi of Moody’s Economy.com put the economic multiplier of extending a dollar of unemployment benefits at 1.6 meaning that, for every dollar spent on unemployment compensation $1.60 is added to our economy’s output. Similarly, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office places the multiplier in a range between 0.8 and 2.1.
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