Boehner Angles To Quash Jobless Benefits After Favorable Senate Vote

[DonViejo]

Source: TPM

SAHIL KAPUR – JANUARY 7, 2014, 12:29 PM EST

In a surprising move Tuesday, six Republicans joined Senate Democrats to break a filibuster and advance a three-month revival of unemployment insurance
that recently expired for some 1.3 million Americans.

But the proposal faces a major obstacle before passing the Senate, and House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) is already angling to quash the effort.

The bill moved forward on a 60-37 margin, without a single vote to spare -- Sen. Mark Begich (D-AK) couldn't make it due to the weather. The Republican yeses were Sens. Dean Heller (NV), who co-sponsored the bill, Kelly Ayotte (NH), Lisa Murkowski (AK), Susan Collins (ME), Rob Portman (OH) and Dan Coats (IN).

Now comes the hard part. Many senators believe the extension, which costs $25 billion for a year, must be paid for. They have yet to agree on an offset, and it'll be difficult to find bipartisan savings. And even if the Senate achieves consensus, they have to get any such bill through the Republican-led House.

:::snip:::

Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/why-unemployment-benefits-may-be-doomed-despite-senate-vote

[Jackpine Radical]

1. Built 2 less bombers

or postpone a ship or something.

It's not like we're being outgunned on any military front or anything.

[Historic NY]

2. Its in keeping with thier new blank sheet of paper.

House Republicans filed into Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s Capitol office suite and received a blank piece of paper labeled “Agenda 2014.”

The blank slate just about sums up where Republicans find themselves after a year marked by the first government shutdown in 17 years, futile efforts to repeal Obamacare and the inability to pass spending bills at the levels set by Republican leaders.

Without much fanfare, House Republicans are crafting an election-year agenda that’s meant to target what they believe are the real economic issues facing middle-class Americans — and thereby attract the kind of voters that the GOP and Mitt Romney alienated in 2012. They hope the initiatives will help them hang onto the majority in 2014 and paint a more positive image of the party.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/11/house-gop-2014-agenda-starts-with-blank-slate-99961.html#ixzz2pk9LSb7e


Most likely its white paper so the can hide behind it.

[RC]

3. And yet we hear nothing about approving the selling/giving of more killing equipment to Iraq.

It seems to be a done deal. We can't help our own that need it, but we have no qualms about spending money to kill people in other countries.

[Thor_MN]

4. Easy, force the Republics to agree to not shut down the government again.

There's $24 billion right there. Only have to come up with another billion, and it's paid for.

[liberal N proud]

5. Do Nothing Congress continues

[global1]

9. I'm Thinking We Should Call It The "Do Something Congress".....

They are doing something - they are quashing every attempt this Administration and the Dems have made and are making to make things better. They are doing it out of spite, political showboating and I guess I'm one that believes that their is an element of racism also involved. They don't want the first black President to be successful.

So IMHO they are not doing nothing - they are doing something - and that something is to sandbag any attempt for this President to do good by and for the American People.

And they are doing it with a smug and straight face - pretending that they are concerned - but they are filled with hypocrisy.

I don't know how any American that has any sense of compassion for the pile of dung that the BushCo Administration left behind in their wake - can vote Repug.

It's sand that so many American's are buying into this hypocrisy - believing Rush, Hannity, Fox News, etc and shooting themselves in the foot in the process. I can't believe that so many people have been brainwashed to think that President Obama is evil and is their enemy.

It's just sad.

[Andy823]

6. Let them cut welfare

CORPORATE welfare that is. Take away subsides and tax breaks for big oil, and any other subsidies and tax breaks for corporations that have billion dollar profits every year!

Oh yeah, and why not make all those who voted to shut down the government at an expense of around 24 billion dollars, pay for that shut down out of their own pockets!

If they really want to "help" the country prove it by making the cuts for the wealthy instead of taking it all away from those who really need it, like the poor, veterans, etc.

[Pharaoh]

7. Tax the Fucking rich!!

[dipsydoodle]

8. I noticed watching Obama today

he was talking from the heart : not a teleprompter. Good speech.

[DallasNE]

10. It's Telling That 3 Of The 6 Republican Senators

That voted for cloture were women. This is still another indication of the problem Republicans have with women. Yes, unemployment has hit women harder than men so at the margins this is a women's issue.

[daybranch]

22. This is a human rights issue

The more you yell it is a women's issue, the more men will look away. So called women's issues are family issues, they are freedom issues and dignity issues. As an old white Vietnam veteran guy with a long term wife and a daughter and a son, I can think of no members of my family that will not be adversely affected by the GOP stances on reproductive rights, their stances on unemployment, their stances on foreign wars,their stances on medicaid, their stances on unions, their stances on Obamacare and on and on. I am on the same side you are I believe, but your trumpeting everything as if you or women are the only ones involved turns me off. I already have the GOP dividing and conquering and I hardly need any more division. There were more men voting for the extension does this mean it was a men's issue only? I can understand your need to be proud of the fine efforts of women but be assured many men also made those efforts successful. Lets quit dividing ourselves.

[DallasNE]

23. You Apparently Missed "At The Margins"

Of course this is not a central women's issue and you enumerate most of them but the cold, hard fact is that 3 of the 4 Republican women in the Senate crossed the aisle on this issue. Of course this could simply reflect the softer side that women often display but they are not crossing the aisle very often so something else is in play. Perhaps you even hit on it when you identify dignity issues as this vote certainly hits on that.

[CTyankee]

24. No, feminists are saying something very different. Listen harder.

When critics of Feminism try to say that women's issues aren't a concern of "most Americans" Feminists rightly point out that economic issues affect women as much as men. It's a pretty simple concept, really. Amazing that you can't see that right before your very eyes...

[Vincardog]

11. How about a Financial Transaction TAX? Raise a Trillion right there.

[truthisfreedom]

12. Defund the part of the NSA that snoops on Americans.

That would save enough to extend relief for a year.

[truebrit71]

13. Afghanistan costs 1.75 Billion PER WEEK...

How about we get the fuck out of there and use that money for, oh I don't know, American citizens that need a hand instead?

We'd have paid for the entire year of extended benefits in just three months...

[albino65]

14. Why doesn't someone quash Boehner and the rest of the losers? n/t

[pinboy3niner]

16. Can barely hear you...you say you want Boehner sloshed? Oops, too late!

[ailsagirl]

18. SQUASHED!!

[SoapBox]

15. What a dick

Boner is...or is it the other way around!?

Well whatever...Tan Man needs to be gone

[ailsagirl]

17. heartless cretin

Last edited Wed Jan 8, 2014, 12:15 AM - Edit history (1)

[RoccoR5955]

19. How about a cut in corporate welfare?

Face it, Exxon/Mobil doesn't need the "subsidy" that they get.

[pampango]

20. House repubs are out of step with America (again) per CAP poll.

Americans also express very strong support for a number of policies to help reduce poverty rates with particular intensity around jobs, wages, and education but also on more traditional safety net items. Of the 11 policy ideas tested, five proposals received 80 percent or higher total support and 50 per-cent or higher strong support from Americans. These five policy proposals are: help low-wage workers afford quality child care (86 percent total support and 52 percent strong support); expand nutrition assistance to provide families with healthy food and enough to eat (85 percent total support and 50 percent strong support); make universal pre-kindergarten available for all children (84 percent total support and 59 percent strong support); expand publicly funded scholarships to help more families afford college (84 percent total support and 54 percent strong support); and increase the minimum wage and make sure it rises with inflation (80 percent total support and 58 percent strong support).

A second tier of anti-poverty proposals includes ideas for expanded tax credits such as the Earned Income Tax Credit, or EITC, Child Tax Credit, and access to affordable health coverage, as well as proposals for a new national jobs program and more refinancing of mortgages. Roughly three-quarters of those polled sup- port these proposals, and more than 40 percent strongly support them.

Policymakers should feel confident that the American public will support efforts to expand economic opportunity, increase access to good jobs and wages, and maintain a robust social safety net. Harsh negative attitudes about the poor that seemingly defined political discussions throughout the 1980s and 1990s have given way to public recognition that many Americans—poor and middle class alike—are facing many pressures trying to stay afloat and get ahead in the difficult economic environment. Supporters of anti-poverty efforts should not be complacent in their efforts, however, and should recognize that although Americans back government action to reduce poverty, questions remain about the structure and scope of these efforts and how effective they have been over time.

http://www.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/WOP-PollReport2.pdf

"Harsh negative attitudes about the poor" have declined greatly but House republicans, particularly the tea party types, don't realize it and keep up the same blather they always have.

[DCBob]

21. Disgusting.

These people have no soul.

[Brigid]

25. Make them pay in November.

That is all.

[okaawhatever]

26. So basically the Republican Senators most likely to lose the next election sided with the Dems and

aren't too concerned with the bill being passed. That's the problem with some of these "victories" for the Dems. The Republicans in moderate or blue states can say they didn't vote against it knowing their vote for it means nothing. Since the Senate is a state wide election the Senators face a wider more diverse electorate and so the Repubs and Dems alike tend to vote more with popular opinion. Let's see if the Republican Congress does anything.