Jobless benefits not top priority to House GOP [View all]

[Beacool]

By JAKE SHERMAN
1/8/14

President Barack Obama’s desire to renew emergency jobless benefits is running into a familiar avalanche of indifference: the House.

House Republicans are showing little appetite, urgency and interest in extending the program, and are hinting that they are content to let the issue disappear if the Senate fails to pass its own legislation.

The reasons for this stance are plentiful. Some Republicans think the nation is awash with unoccupied jobs, others are wary of shuffling more government money to the unemployed and nearly every GOP lawmaker wants to see seismic changes to the way benefits are administered.

And as the Senate wrestles with its bill, senior House Republicans think the Senate will offset the bill in a way the lower chamber finds unacceptable. Adding to their demands, House Republicans say they won’t pass a bill that doesn’t contain something they deem a “job-creation” measure. Some rank-and-file Republicans are already floating the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline as a price for jobless benefits.

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/01/unemployment-benefits-expansion-house-republicans-gop-101942.html?hp=f1

These people are callous and disinterested in the fate of their fellow Americans. Unfortunately, they hold the majority in the House. Which brings up a point that I have been making since 2010. Remember all the chortling that went on here about defeating the Blue Dog Democrats? Most of these people came from conservative districts. When they lost their reelections, who took their place? Republicans, that's who. The defeat of these moderate Democrats brought on the the Tea Party Republicans. The moral of the story? Beware of what you wish for......