Facebook
Fark
Digg
Reddit
Stumble
Tuesday, March 2, 2010 | 2:06 a.m.
Republican Sen. Jim Bunning of Kentucky used Senate rules to stop a bill last week that would have extended unemployment and health benefits to more than 1 million Americans. The bill also would have provided funding for transportation projects across the nation.
The bill had bipartisan support, but Bunning, one of the most conservative members of the Senate, said he was concerned about the deficit. He did not, however, suggest how Americans could get the help they need in the interim.
The bill was intended to be a stopgap measure to provide money to needed programs until legislation providing permanent funding can be passed. Congress is expected to find a way around Bunning’s inane maneuver this week, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada on Monday proposed legislation to give people their health and unemployment benefits back retroactively.
That is good news, but until something passes, Americans will suffer due to Bunning’s obstructionism.
There will be Americans who go without unemployment benefits in the short-term, and that will hurt not just those receiving the benefits but also the economy because it will translate into a cut in consumer spending.
The Transportation Department on Monday sent 2,000 workers home on an unpaid furlough until Congress moves to restore funding. The layoffs include federal highway inspectors, who are required to be on construction projects. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said that without them, the work cannot continue and construction crews will face their own furloughs. Of course, it may not matter because the bill that Bunning blocked was also meant to provide money for ongoing transportation projects.
Sadly, what the Kentucky Republican did seems to be on par for the GOP, which has shown a cold heart toward the plight of those affected by the recession.
Take, for instance, Rep. Dean Heller, R-Nev. As Lisa Mascaro noted in Sunday’s Las Vegas Sun, Heller told a crowd at the Elko Republican Party’s Lincoln Day Dinner that he wondered if extending unemployment benefits kept people from finding work.
“Is the government now creating hobos?” Heller said, according to the Elko Daily Free Press.
Is that really what the GOP believes, that government assistance is keeping Americans from working? Does he think that jobs are easy to come by? Heller’s ridiculous comments are cold-hearted and an insult to the hardworking Americans who have found themselves unemployed and unable to get jobs.
Given that Nevada’s unemployment rate of 13 percent is the second-highest in the nation, Heller should know better. Reid and the Democrats have worked diligently to save and create jobs, yet they have continually run into opposition from Republicans. What the nation needs is more bipartisan work in Congress to stimulate the economy, yet the Republicans offer insults and obstruct needed legislation. Shameful.
The GOP gives Workers(unemployed or otherwise), the One finger Salute. Why don't they just admit they hate people that aren't rich. Where is my slice of cake? Where is the outrage?
I guess if you are a Republican, people who lose their job, or are unable to work deserve to suffer.
The USA used to be better than this. Please don't refer yourself as compassionate GOPers!
Senator Jim Bunning points to the pay-as-you-go rule that was adopted by Congress last month. It requires new spending to be offset by cuts elsewhere.
--------------------------------
Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley and Democratic Rep. Dina Titus supported the pay as you go bill last month
So Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi,Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley and Democratic Rep. Dina Titus have decided they do not apply the law that they just passed to cover the $10 billion.
Why did Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley and Democratic Rep. Dina Titus pass a law they did not intend to follow?
-----------------------------
The LV Sun pointed out "The bill was intended to be a stopgap measure to provide money to needed programs until legislation providing permanent funding can be passed."
Not just so the LV Sun puts out all the facts this money is in another bill coming up Friday and backdated to cover the gap.
NOBODY will miss a check.
--------------------------
The department of Transportation does not have to lay any one off.
They have money that can be used - it is the annual budget and the stimulus.
Since when does Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi wait until the day a department runs out of money to pass a bill for more money?
Harry and Nancy are really inept.
Bunning is inept,...he just hates everybody. He another obstructionist from the party of no, and beyond that he's a strange guy who has proved that over and over.
Once again the LVSun doesn't give a damn about jobs and people. This rag itself has put people out of work. No, this is just another hit piece in their "Democrats good, Republicans bad" series. And of course it's about puffing up their boy Harry Reid in an election year.
How long should unemployment last? 2 years? 5 years? 10 years?
The typical dumbocrat was for "Pay as you go" until they were against it, ie when they actually had to find the money to pay for something. Hypocrits.
Bunning is not against the bill that would extend these benefits. He wants to follow the letter of the pay as you go policy that has been established.
Unemployment benefits should last for the rest of your life. It's not fair that after a year or two of being unemployed a person should be forced to go out and work again. It is just too big an adjustment to ask anyone to make. Don't any of you have compassion?
Another Sun editorial:
Blah, blah, blah, blah, REPUBLICANS BAD, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, REPUBLICANS BAD, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, REPUBLICANS BAD, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, REPUBLICANS BAD!!!!
Reveal finally got something right!!!!!!!
Bunning's playing games rather than doing the work of the people. This is what the American people can expect from elected Republicans.
Bunning has long made his money off the goodwill of the American public.
He is a real Poster Child for the republican party. Some of his highlights:
He is a part of the greatest choke in sports history..."Bunning is remembered for his role in the pennant race of 1964, in which the Phillies held a commanding lead in the National League for most of the season, eventually losing the title to the St. Louis Cardinals. Manager Gene Mauch used Bunning and fellow hurler Chris Short heavily down the stretch, and the two became visibly fatigued as September wore on. The collapse of the 1964 Phillies remains one of the most infamous in baseball history. With a six and a half game lead as late as September 21, they lost 10 games in a row to finish tied for second place.
Bunning would routinely shake off catchers' pitch signs that he knew to be signaled into the game from the dugout by Mauch. This would have the effect of irritating Mauch, who broadly applied the practice of signalling pitches from the dugout to his catchers at a time when this was not typically done"...
Then he was also known as a headhunter. Search the YouTubes to see him throwing at peoples heads on purpose.
Then, the most optimistic politician of our times had this to say about Bunning:
In a quote from Pulitzer-prize winner Taylor Branch's book of interviews with former President Bill Clinton, David Corn, of Mother Jones magazine characterizes Clinton's opinion of Bunning as:
In describing an interview with Bill Clinton after the 1998 Senate elections, Taylor Branch wrote of Clinton, "He said Bunning, a former baseball player, was so mean-spirited that he repulsed even his fellow know-nothings. 'I tried to work with him a couple times,' said Clinton, 'and he just sent shivers up my spine....I know you're a baseball fan and everything, and you don't like to hear it, but this guy is beyond the pale.'"
He also has a Charitable foundation that -- well, read it yourself "On December 18, 2008, the Lexington Herald Leader reported that Sen. Bunning's non-profit foundation, the Jim Bunning Foundation, has given less than 25 percent of its proceeds to charity. The charity has taken in $504,000 since 1996, according to Senate and tax records; during that period, Senator Bunning was paid $180,000 in salary by the foundation while working a reported one hour per week. Bunning Foundation board members include his wife Mary, and Cincinnati tire dealer Bob Sumerel. In 2008, records indicate that Bunning attended 10 baseball shows around the country and signed autographs, generating $61,631 in income for the charity. "The whole thing is very troubling," said Melanie Slone, Executive Director for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington."
C'mon all you republicRATs stand up for this guy. I could use a good laugh. He epitomizes the ruin of America. It is time to rid our country of republicRats, they need to disappear like the Whig party did, they both are in favor of expanding a slave owner mindset...
"There will be Americans who go without unemployment benefits in the short-term, and that will hurt not just those receiving the benefits but also the economy because it will translate into a cut in consumer spending."
Ok, let me get this right. I pay taxes in a variety of ways. Many of these taxes, which reduce my personal income and my ability as a business to thrive, go into the unemployment fund. Cutting off unemployment benefits to somebody who hasn't gotten off their ass in over a year to find any kind of work, is going to reduce consumer spending?
This is exactly why liberals will ruin the country. Why would anybody go work for 350 dollars a week, when you can sit home and watch Judge Judy and get the same check? There is zero incentive to make the couch potato go look for a job. Zero.
12 weeks of unemployment is fine. 24 weeks stretching it. 52 weeks? Really. Your kidding right.
Bunning is responsible for the Kentucky car title laundering scam system. Flood and hail damgaed vehicles are concealed by a sneaky process in Kentucky. Most car history reports won't pick up the skuldugery. His campaigns have been financed by these rats.
I would very much enjoy watching these politians and those who support this craziness survive on 1063.00 per month. Pay rent: 700, elect. 165, car insurance, gas, food all while STILL trying to find a job - WITHOUT UNEMPLOYMENT!! At the very least, these funds help the unemployed maintain some sort of continuity in order to continue their job search. Gas and food are not free. No we are NOT hobos we are still looking. So you tell us where to go to feed our families and we'll do that, until then this is so necessary!
dipstick.....
Great post! Funny, true & enjoyable to read!
If we weren't ment to suffer the Progs/Libs wouldn't have engineered this situation.
It is amazing to watch Harry Reid today in his best full throated "partisan" mode speaking on the Senate well in that ever so soft seething disdainful MONOTONE. With his nose in the air Reid utters elitist retorts to minority representatives.
In February 2010 Harry passed "Pay-As-You-Go" legislation, and then carefully explained to Senator Jim Bunning why he did NOT use it for the first appropriation that next came up.
Per Harry Reid "Pay-As-You-Go" does not apply to anything that he does not want it to apply too
I cannot think of a purpose that Bunning serves, other than wasting air and space.
Senator Jim Bunning is a disgrace to the US Congress. Reviled by his own party, despised by the Democrats, he serves only as an example of what a US Senator should not be. He has personally cost working people money, jobs, and has caused untold misery. He says he will hold up a vital funding bill until it is proved that it will be immediately paid for.
Fine fiscal policy, Senator, however where were you when George Bush started not one but two UNFUNDED wars, gave huge UNFUNDED tax cuts to his big business buddies, and ran up budget deficits that quickly ate up the surplus that Bill Clinton left him to work with. Talk about hypocrisy. He voted FOR all of Bush's initiatives without any thought of how they would be paid for because that was the Republican party line and woe be to any Republican that had the guts to buck Bush, Cheney and Rove.
Why must I pay for people unwilling to work? There are many jobs out there. As soon as the unemployment benefits run out for them, they will mysteriously find work.
If the dems had any brains they would be featuring national ads with Bunning and Hobo Heller. Hopefully George Soros will take note.
Nevada is already in debt to the Federal Government for one billion dollars for the last extension of unemployment benefits that also was a unfunded mandate.
Just what Nevada needs is another unfunded mandate that will cost all of us down the road.
It should be against the law for the Federal Government to pass a law that forces others to pay for it.
There should be a point in time that the chronic unemployed should switch over to public assistance welfare including medicaid.
But Journey, keeping people on unemployment or public assistance programs makes lifelong losers and Democrats...
trainman is off the rails...
"Why must I pay for people unwilling to work? There are many jobs out there."
"you" are not personally paying the millions of America's unemployed!?! Surely not! Shirley, you jest!
Yes, the Larry's and trainmen of the world assume to deride the millions and millions of good, decent Americans that are on the unemployment lines because our economic train was derailed a couple of years back by some W dude.
They are probably big fans of that smarmy junior-high-like Dean Heller.
Yep, let's send em' packin' for the rails, where trainman can drive the engine that makes the dough that pays for the millions and millions of unemployed are just too darn lazy to work.
ALL ABOARD!
Hmmmmmm...It appears that LarryVegas and Journey might be on to something. Maybe we should immediately stop all unemployment benefits to any and all Americans.
Of course, we could also open "debtor's prisons" around the country, and put in jail those people that can't pay their bills.....that worked really well during the early history of Europe, particularly in England......
Maybe we could reopen the federal prison at Alcataraz? That worked really well. Of course, reopening Alcataraz would create some much needed jobs. Talk about "jump starting the economy!" Wow!
Maybe we could bring back the old Georgia style chain gangs and require those in jail to work in order to eat.... They would have to remain in prison until they paid off their debt. Heck, at 25 cents an hour, they could pay-off their debt in no time.....
Wow! This has all kinds of possibilities....
Maybe we could go back to some type of "indentured servant-ship," where a person would be required to work 5-7 years in exchange for their room and board... People with money could buy the "indentured servant-ship" contracts and use the newly acquired labor any way they saw fit....
That might be one way we could start competing with countries such as India and China in the fast moving global economy....
Who ever said that the 13th amendment was part of the laws of this great land? Nonsense.....
Wow! Thank you LarryVegas & Journey.....You have made my day! Ha! Ha! Ha!
I want the same benefits across the board that the great hypocrite Brian Greenspun bestows upon his favorite employees.
Doom and gloom...
It appears that doom and gloom are the only tactics that Liberals have these days...
Come November, our Liberal friends will be back to blaming Bush for their losses...
Where were our wonderful democrats when our government was financing the outsourcing of our manufacturing companies to foreign coumtries?
"Larry the Independent" said.....
"Doom and gloom...
It appears that doom and gloom are the only tactics that Liberals have these days..."
Ha! Ha! Ha! That's funny considering the fact that it's Democrats who are trying to move past the status quo, & move the country forward.
The Republicans, on the other hand, are refusing to move forward at all....
Larry, where do you get these strange ideas from? Hmmmmmmm.....been watching FOX NEWS again, right?
I've warned you several times about that.... Doing that results in "brain rot."
Repubs want their "grandpa's" America, which is long gone.
And their intolerance makes it difficult for them to relate to what's replaced "grandpa's" America.
Gays used to hide. Now they don't. Repubs can't deal with it.
Minorities used to cower. Now they don't. Repubs can't deal with it.
Women used to tolerate back-alley abortions. Now they don't. Repubs can't deal with it.
The entire free world used to dance to our tune. Now they don't. Repubs can't deal with it.
Repubs are often paranoid xenophobes who perceive our entire existence being threatened by every little shadow.....
Thank you Mr ACORN, It is obvious you have no idea what America is all about. A true American does not live to suck the life from from who are productive.