I too had been wondering what republicans hoped to gain by using every procedural tactic in the book to delay final passage of the most recent unemployment extension benefits, signed into law by Obama last week. You might think that even if republicans no longer fear revealing to the country they have no soul the political consequences for obstructing passage of such a vital (and inevitable) bill would at least give them pause. As Digby (and others) pointed out though, the Democrats' response to this huge, gift-wrapped present from republicans was to do absolutely nothing:
I can't imagine why the Dems didn't make a huge, stinking deal out of this Republican obstructionism, and illustrate in living color for the American people what these cruel, petty ploys do to real people, but I guess they don't want to upset the Republicans. After all, they wouldn't want to be uncivil.
And they wonder why the liberal blogs always seem so angry.
If there are no consequences for behavior such as this, why wouldn't the republicans obstruct, obstruct, obstruct? What possible benefit could they get politically from allowing the Democrats to ease the voters' financial burdens? The only way they gain back power at the moment is if the voters end up seeing Democrats as even worse than republicans, and we've seen how much the country hates them these days. That's why they always seem ready to let the country burn if they think it will help them politically: it's their own personal Shock Doctrine, right here in America. But the real reason republicans delayed passage of the unemployment extension benefits for so long was this:
Because the bill was held up for so long in the Senate, an end-of-the-year filing deadline will prevent anyone from accessing the final six weeks of benefits, according to state officials and sources on Capitol Hill. On Friday, President Obama signed into law legislation extending jobless benefits by 14 weeks nationwide, with an additional six weeks for those states where unemployment rates top 8.5 percent. Those benefits kicked in on Sunday. But there’s a glitch. The new law treats the 20-week extension as two separate extensions of 14 weeks and six weeks, with participants required to exhaust the first 14 weeks before applying for the next six. However, the current law keeps a Dec. 31 application deadline, roughly seven weeks from now, making collecting the full 20 weeks impossible.
That’s not all. The emergency unemployment benefits provided beginning in 2008 are also tiered. The filing deadline applies to all tiers. That is, the new extension would effectively grandfather the unemployed into the tier where they sit at the end of December, preventing them from jumping into the next, even if they were eligible.
Brilliant.
A bad economy is their most potent weapon right now, far more potent than some of the absurdities currently coming from the far right, and this cannot be stressed enough. The crazy, extremist fringe is about the only demographic the republicans haven't burned through yet and they know they can't win with them. The right is desperate for an issue with broad enough support to run on, and the economy just may be it. I can't imagine what they would do if they did gain power again; being the same old republicans would infuriate the voters while tending to the needs of the poor and needy at the expense of the rich would infuriate conservatives.
But at least they'd be in power, and in control of Congress, and the Democrats would have no power at all.
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Update: in the comments bobswern reminds us that another way the right delayed passage was by attaching stupid amendments like the one attacking Acorn. I THINK it was Digby who said just pass the damn thing because no one will remember or care about Acorn when they think of this bill, least of all the people the bill is meant to help, who at the moment have other things on their mind. Unfortunately, the more you want something the more power your opponents have over you if you need their votes to pass it.
So, if the needs of the unemployed are worth stupid amendments like the one republicans tried to attach about Acorn, the left should attach their own amendment, like, say, a bill to defund Blackwater, or to allow the negotiation of lower drug prices for Medicare part D. It puts the ball back in their court and you may even accomplish something you hadn't been able to otherwise. Good for the goose, as they say...