Sen. Bunning blocks unemployment benefits extension

McClatchy Newspapers David Lightman And Halimah Abdullah, Mcclatchy Newspapers ^ | 2/26/10 | By David Lightman and Halimah Abdullah

[Santa Fe_Conservative]

WASHINGTON — Some unemployment benefits could dry up Monday. Newly laid-off workers wouldn't get federal help with health insurance premiums.

Road and transit bills could go unpaid, Medicare payments to doctors would stay high and rural satellite reception could be affected, all thanks to Sen. Jim Bunning's decision to block legislation that would keep alive a host of programs that expire Sunday night.

The Kentucky Republican, according to several sources, told Democratic colleagues "tough s---" Thursday when they tried to get him to change his mind.

The Senate is expected to consider a longer-term extension of the programs Monday, with passage likely next week.

The House of Representatives passed the extension by voice vote, and the Senate was expected to go along. Then along came Bunning, a fiscal conservative, who objected because Congress didn't pay for the $10 billion bill.

[arista]

There are just no jobs out there.

There are no jobs being created because the government is borrowing so much.

The only way to get more jobs out there is for the government to cut spending. Right now the government is borrowing $1.5 trillion per year to finance deficit spending. This borrowing "crowds out" private investment. Every dollar the government borrows from investors is a dollar that otherwise would have been invested in the private sector and would have created jobs there.

[BobbyT]

It’s called “insurance” in the same way that Social Security and Medicare are.

The payments in have no connection to the payments out. The majority of those who (chronically) use it pay in an irrelevant pittance and are getting paid out large welfare checks. Those who never use it pay in very disproportionate amounts.

Congress has tacked on 26 week extensions half a dozen times over the past year, to the point where “unemployment” now runs 99 weeks!

That’s TWO YEARS of welfare if you can’t find your dream job, or don’t want to, or would be better off just taking a cash job AND the checks, like illegals/drug dealers.

[Former Proud Canadian]

99 weeks of unemployment benefits???? Canada only pays 52 weeks maximum. And you call us socialists????

[cotton1706]

All he did was deny unanimous consent. The senators will now have to vote on it, instead of just one person asking for unanimous consent and passing bills.

This should be done far more often so that senators go on the record (which they hate to do!)

Unanimous consent is the senate’s way of voting on things quickly and going off to do something else. They should be forced (republican and democrat) to sit there and listen to the endless nonsense that half of them spout and then actually have to say aye or nay.

[Dianna]

I am stymied over the unemployment extentions. There really are few jobs out there, and the government is standing in the way of that getting better. Some, probably small, percent of those out of work are dirtbags. Another small percent are people who could actually build and sustain their own small business.

Ending the benefits and forcing them onto welfare might motivate some to work harder to find work. But there just isn't anywhere to go.

[Red in Blue PA]

Rep. Bunning demonstrated great courage and sound principle. The state of Kentucky is blessed to have a man of his integrity in office.

Putting people who want to work out on the streets is "integrity"????? If you think the economy is bad now, just wait until the foreclosure rate skyrockets from people who do not get any unemployment insurance.

And do you even know that Bunnings objection is that this money is to be spent from the remaining $400B in stimulus funds, instead of from new funds? He does not object to the idea itself. But doing this in this way makes Republicans look very bad.

[Red in Blue PA]

There are no jobs out there. I am unemployed and the job listings are the same virtually from week to week.

And I recently had an interview where I was 1 of 14 interviewed. Do not even want to know how many applied for the 1 position. Must have been 200.

[Red in Blue PA]

I dont buy into the idea that people on unemployment want to stay unemployed. There are just no jobs out there.

The average number of unemployed people to every job opening was 6.1 about a month ago. It is probably much higher now. I recently had an interview where I was 1 of 14 being interviewed.

[re_nortex]

There are no jobs out there. I am unemployed and the job listings are the same virtually from week to week. And I recently had an interview where I was 1 of 14 interviewed. Do not even want to know how many applied for the 1 position. Must have been 200.

With all respect and this is not intended to be taken as a personal slight, your handle of ``Red in Blue PA'' is telling. You're simply in the wrong state.

And I can speak from experience having been born in Pennsylvania and then opting to leave due to big labor, big taxes, big government under the thumb of Democrat control and an anti-business climate. If there's any way you can relocate to a right-to-work state, I have every confidence you'll find a fulfilling means of employment. And you'll be able to become ``Red in Red OK'', ``Red in Red AL'' or maybe ``Red in Red TX''.

So long as Pennsylvania remains closed shop, pro-union and anti-growth, it will remain like much of the rest of the Rust Belt. I hate to say it (and I'm sure your an exception), a large number of Pennsylvanians have a sense of entitlement instead of a go-hung entrepreneurial bent.

And the weather is generally gloomy on top of all that. :-) I simply have no desire to ever go back.

[re_nortex]

...I'm sure your an exception...

s/your/you're/

Self-policing grammar police on patrol.

[Persevero]

I would feel ripped off if I had unemployment insurance taken out of my check for ten years, then didn’t get to collect any benefits if I were fired.

I am not in favor of unpaid-for extensions, though.

[lonestar]

Then along came Bunning, a fiscal conservative, who objected because Congress didn't pay for the $10 billion bill.

[BobbyT]

I feel ripped off that I’m having unemployment “insurance”, welfare “insurance”, AFDC “insurance”, Social Security “insurance”, Medicare “insurance”, etc taken from my paycheck.

But I’d sure as hell get rid of those massively bankrupt, blatantly redistributionary failures and consider what’s been taken from me so far as a sunk cost, rather than expand them even further in the hopes I’ll get to collect a slightly higher chunk of someone else’s paycheck, knowing everyone who actually works will end up paying that much more down the road.

[Persevero]

Me too, I’d rather not get charged involuntary premiums in the first place.

[Red in Blue PA]

So then your answer is that every Conservative should move to the deep south or shut up?

Nice.

[truth_seeker]

Just remember everytime subjects like this come up:

Obama and dem Congress have taken care of government employees, with “stimulus.”

In CA LA Mayor Villar recently suggested 15% across the board pay cuts for all employees of Lost Angeles.

I was surprised to hear somebody like him come right out and say it; but it must be hitting government budgets between the eyes.

Private sector=really hurting

Public sector=no pain at all

[re_nortex]

So then your answer is that every Conservative should move to the deep south or shut up?

Certainly not the ``shut up'' part...not at all. Become vocal and active. Do as I did when I lived in Pennsylvania and work to decertify labor unions. I succeeded by convincing my colleagues that the union was confiscating our wages with benefits only to the lazy in our shop and to the union bosses. Work to repeal that equally-confiscatory state income tax that continues to keep Pennsylvania near the bottom. And do your part to get true Conservatives elected to office throughout the Commonwealth.

On the other hand, yes a move to the South by every Conservative wouldn't be a bad idea after all. Then WE could take the real America back without secession here but there!

[brothers4thID]

All defense spending bills go through the Senate as well. Furthermore, Senator Bunning has served on both the Armed Services Committee and the Veterans Affairs Committee where he would have voted on hundreds of pieces of legislation.

Bunning has always been a strong fiscal conservative. Do a bit of research on his debates against Greenspan and Bernake regarding fiscal policy.

[DannyTN]

I am not in favor of unpaid-for extensions, though."

The problem though is that you are in a recession/depression. You are going to have some unfunded expenditures until the economy comes back.

It's like being laid off and saying you aren't going to borrow to eat. You'll just do without eating until you find work and can pay for it.

Sure it would be nice if the government had set up a reserve that they could draw on to fund crisis interventions like this. But they didn't so here we are.

[Non-Sequitur]

The House of Representatives passed the extension by voice vote, and the Senate was expected to go along. Then along came Bunning, a fiscal conservative, who objected because Congress didn't pay for the $10 billion bill.

Fiscal conservative?????? They just didn't throw him enough pork.