Unlike the way Republicans treat it, Unemployment Insurance Extension is a humane solution, to very serious "structural" problem that still persists in our overly-austere economy.
Down & out: US unemployed without extended benefits nearing 2mn
rt.com -- Feb 25, 2014
Two full months have passed since almost 1.3 million long-term unemployed Americans lost their extended government benefits, a number that has since jumped by 576,000.
Of the 4 million US citizens who have been searching for work for more than 26 weeks, more than half are no longer receiving extended unemployment coverage. Meanwhile, millions of other Americans who dropped out of the workforce since the start of the Great Recession in 2008 are no longer even counted in the data.
The number of unemployed Americans is said to be 10.2 million, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Of this total, more than 3.6 million are listed as long-term, with another 2.6 million who receive no benefits but are searching for work. Of those who are employed, 7.3 million are working at part-time jobs, unable to nail down full-time employment.
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Despite the seriousness of the problem, Republicans have been very slow in response to treat it that way. Slowly the ice jam is melting, in the Senate ... but in the House, the icy stares could freeze all hope, for any meager reprieve from the daily anxiety that is sometimes dismissed as "being chronically unemployed."
Senate Democrats Pin Their Hopes For Unemployment Benefits On Two Republicans
by Sam Stein and Arthur Delaney, huffingtonpost.com -- Feb 24, 2014
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Senate Democratic leadership is eyeing Sens. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and Dan Coats (R-Ind.) as the most likely yes votes for any plan to restore those benefits -- which lapsed on Dec. 28, 2013 -- and extend them into the future. A leadership aide told The Huffington Post that the office of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has been in touch with both Kirk and Coats staffers in hopes of finding a mutually agreeable way to pay for the benefits. Democrats are glad that neither senator has stepped away from those discussions.
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Even if the Senate passes an extension, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives is unlikely to play along. House Republicans will either consider their own version of the legislation or, more likely, not consider anything at all.
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Conti's moving-the-ball remark [Judy Conti, a lobbyist with the National Employment Law Project] refers to the fact that Portman and other Republicans rejected a specific Democratic proposal to pay for the costs of unemployment benefits before turning around and using that same pay-for to restore cuts to military pensions.
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The Democratic party is working hard to find creative ways to "pay for" these Extension in Benefits;
The Republican party is working hard to find creative ways of saying THAT such "pay fors" are no longer "good enough."
In order for Republicans to "actually care" about the long-term unemployed -- Republicans need some sort of ideological tariffs -- in the form yet-to-be-disclosed Amendments. To be tagged on any future unemployment insurance extension bills, to-be-passed later.
Senate fails to advance unemployment bill
by CNN Senior Congressional Producer Ted Barrett, politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com -- Feb 6, 2014
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Democrats insisted they have bent over backwards to address GOP concerns, including offsetting the costs and allowing votes on a handful of Republican amendments to the bill. They say Republicans fundamentally oppose extending the benefits any further.
Some Republicans have argued the extended benefits are a disincentive for people to find jobs and have wanted to tie reforms to the unemployment insurance program to the extension.
Republican negotiators wanted to vote on more amendments than Democrats were willing to accept and also wanted to repeal a reduction in cost of living increases for retired military personnel that was imposed as part of a recent budget agreement.
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Fail to give them their ideological "bargaining chips" -- and they will fail to provide any sort of help for our fellow citizens, with little hope, and probably fewer job prospects.
Senate GOP Stands Firm Against Unemployment Extension
by John Gizzi, newsmax.com -- Feb 7, 2014
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Inhofe gave reporters a preview of his counterattack on unemployment extension should the measure reach the Senate floor, citing three amendments he offered in January and none of which were allowed a vote.
The amendments he will seek to attach to the bill are:
• Amendment 2605 gives states authority to unlock restrictions on developing federal lands within their borders.
• Amendment 2615, to enforce a section of the Clean Air Act, which requires the Environmental Protection Agency to conduct a study on how its regulations are affecting employment across the economy.
• Amendment 2640, to repeal a section of the Murray-Ryan bipartisan budget act that subtracts a full percentage point each year from the Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) for current and future military retirees under 62 and who retire at the 20-year point.
Kind of odd those ideological "bargaining chips" -- aka
Amendments -- which have very little to do with actually 'paying for' those Unemployment Insurance Extensions, that any problem-solving bill would try to provide.
How they can routinely get away with this inhumane type of hostage taking, I don't think I'll ever understand -- but it is one of the main reasons, I still keep advocating for the Democratic Party.
We care about the problems of actual people, and finding viable solutions ...
and put simply, as a point of deep contrast -- the Republicans Do Not ... CARE.
Except for what, they might get out of the deal, when in the event they do "pretend to care."