“Yes, indeed, we are making a very clear statement that we cannot, cannot support a budget agreement that does not include unemployment insurance in the budget or as a sidebar in order to move it all along,” said Nanci Pelosi at a Democrats-only hearing on the uninsured. “It would undermine who we are as a country.”
"We cannot, cannot support a budget agreement that does not include unemployment insurance."
"Cannot, cannot..."
But that's exactly what they did.
Liberal senators -- like Tom Harkin of Iowa -- complained that an unemployment benefit extension was not included in the deal.
"There's over a million people now who cannot find a job, out of work, and right at this time of year their unemployment insurance is being cut off," he told Radio Iowa last week. "It's really unconscionable."
Even a few Republicans could smell the stink of this miserable deal, which also cut benefits for our brave soldiers and their families.
This week, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R) of South Carolina was particularly passionate. “Of all the groups in America you would go to and single out [for cuts] …we picked the military community,” he said Tuesday. Do you know how much a master sergeant with 20 years experience makes in retirement? he asked. Answer: less than $25,000 a year. The cut in cost of living (COLA) is the equivalent of giving up three years of retirement pay, he said.
Obama cheered!
"I hope this spirit of cooperation will continue into the New Year as we work to restore opportunity and broad-based growth for every American," Obama said in a statement issued after a final Senate budget vote on Wednesday.
Hurrah for cooperation with the racist anti-government Tea-Baggers?
Yes indeed!
But meanwhile extended unemployment benefits are the absolute last resource of millions of Americans! The next step is homelessness and maybe starvation.
If this isn't a "red line," where the fuck will the Democrats ever draw one?
So let me remind any remaining Democrats who aren't quite ready to flush the New Deal down the toilet...
It's Elizabeth Warren for President 2016, or the Same Old Shit!