Republicans kill Senate jobless aid measure

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON – Republicans on Thursday defeated Democrats' showcase election-year jobs bill, including an extension of weekly unemployment benefits for more than a million people out of work more than six months.

The 57-41 vote fell three votes short of the 60 required to crack a GOP filibuster, delivering a major blow to President Barack Obama and Democrats facing big losses of House and Senate seats in the fall election.

The rejected bill would also have provided $16 billion in new aid to states, preserving the jobs of thousands of state and local government workers and providing what White House officials called an insurance policy against a double-dip recession. It also included dozens of tax breaks sought by business lobbyists, and tax increases on domestically produced oil and on investment fund managers.

The demise of the bill means that unemployment benefits will phase out for more than 200,000 people a week. Governors who had been counting on federal aid will now have to consider a fresh round of budget cuts, tax hikes and layoffs of state workers.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100624/ap_on_bi_ge/us_congress_spending_22

Why should the Oligarchy have a veto in a Democratic Republic?

Republicans on Thursday defeated Democrats' showcase election-year jobs bill


delivering a major blow to President Barack Obama and Democrats facing big losses of House and Senate seats in the fall election

So repubs defeat a jobs bill and it means big losses to the Dems. So if you are unemployed you are going to want a repub who votes against jobs bills instead of a Dem?

Maybe you buy into the repub mantra that lowering taxes on the wealthy and corporations will get you a job.

but the "dems facing big losses in the fall" is the story line and they're sticking to it no matter what.

If they repeat it enough, are they hoping we'll all be discouraged and won't vote?

going and demand change - then vote against the party in office.

I guess peeple are as stupid as I think.

From July 4, 2006 DU thread--

Steven Leser

On its website, the Associated Press says its mission is to “be the essential global news network, providing distinctive news services of the highest quality, reliability and objectivity with reports that are accurate, balanced and informed.” The below article (which I include in its entirety because it is necessary for the reader to form an accurate opinion) by AP Writer Andrew Taylor failed in this mission on all counts. First some basic background to those who do not understand the news game. When you write an article, you either write News or an Editorial. AP articles are on the news side. News is supposed to be fact-based and not include judgments, opinions or subjectivity. If you want to include any opinions or subjective information, you write an editorial and clearly label it as such.

Mr. Taylor’s below article is what news agencies everywhere should guard against, an editorial masquerading as news. First of all, the term ‘Liberal’ is subjective and depends a lot on perspective and geography. If you ask fifty people what it means to be a Liberal, I guarantee you get at least thirty different answers. If you ask a member of the website Free Republic, they will tell you that anyone to the left of Ronald Reagan is a Liberal, including Republican Senator John McCain. If you ask a member of the Green Party, they will tell you that anyone to the right of Dennis Kucinich is NOT a Liberal and that pretty much excludes everyone on Mr. Taylor’s list and 75% of the Democratic Party. Second, the entire premise is insulting to readers of all stripes. Is there anyone in the American population or electorate who has even a mild interest in politics who would not instinctively know that if the House changes hands to the Democrats that those who will lead it are more ‘Liberal’ than the Republicans running it now? Third, thanks to Ronald Reagan and his ilk, the term has been redefined in the minds of many as a pejorative. I find it difficult to believe that Mr. Taylor does not know this and did not intentionally craft the article around this word as a veiled attack on the congress people discussed therein. The author mentioned the word no less than nine times in his article. Fourth, Mr. Taylor went out of his way to repeat unsubstantiated allegations against Congressman Conyers, who already has served previously as chair of the judiciary committee without ushering in Armageddon, and of course had to bring up the impeachment of Judge Hastings. Although how either of those issues fit into his main premise I have no idea. A better practice would have been to stick to highlighting a few House leaders and describe particular different stances that their replacements would have. Mr. Taylor seemed to start to do this several times but was either too lazy to do a thorough job of it, or too distracted by his seeming anti-Democratic agenda.

The Associated Press needs to take some sort of action. I hate to see anyone lose their jobs but at the very least a counseling session is in order. The two major news agencies in the world are the Associated Press, and Reuters. The lack of real competition means that we are at the mercy of these organizations sticking to their principles and keeping their writers in line with their missions as AP’s is stated above. I have no problem with Mr. Taylor joining me and countless others on the editorial side of the house. But if he is going to write news, then do it properly.

Associated Press writer Andrew Taylor crafts Biased Article - Says potenti

But where were they when the repubs(with Bush and Chaney's blessing)ran this country into the ground by starting wars with ONLY their good buddies profiting and our kids dying. Bill Clinton left a surplus and the Repubs squandered it, now they want the honest people of this country to starve to death and become homeless because they are worried about the deficit. Anyone who would vote for a Republican deserves what they get.

.......for a deluge of TV ads for the November elections about the party of no, and in as simple terms as possible describe the Republican party as the party of big oil and against American workers. This is simply disgusting. I have two sons myself that have been out of work for quite a while and this bullshit will affect them.

Why are the Dems afraid of filibusters? They can be fun. An all night sleep over party in the Senate Chamber, with the entertainment provided by all of those Southern Senators, "baking" s'mores, beer with good buddies. Just stay there till there's a vote.

:eyes:

n/t

The media was, for the most part, wrong about the mid terms so why should anyone believe them now.

Break it up in pieces. The Republicans have cover right now saying they can't vote for the other stuff in the bill. Bring the unemployment extension to the floor by itself and make them filibuster it. I bet the GOP would vote for it and at least the unemployed would not lose benefits. Then take the state aid to the floor by itself and fight over that, and so on and so on. There are just too many people in need to play games. We need to get what we can, and I think things like unemployment benefits can be passed.

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

I'll add that they should stay overnight to get an up or down vote. You know how Republicans hate to stay late, especially with a holiday coming up.

...but the way they do it is that someone puts a bill forward and everyone tacks an amendment onto anything the might actually have a chance at passing, or adds an amendment just to kill it.

Five billion becomes $20 billion in a few hours and everybody regrets bringing it up in the first place.

...to legislation that helps everyday Americans!

Source: The Huffington Post

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Thursday that Democrats are giving up on trying to break a Republican filibuster of a bill to reauthorize several expired domestic aid programs, including extended unemployment benefits.

"We're going to move to the small business jobs bill," said Reid when asked what would happen if the vote to move forward with the "tax extenders" bill fails, as it is expected to do on Thursday afternoon. "We can't pass it until we get some Republicans... It's up to them."

(UPDATE: 6:18 PM: The bill was defeated, 57 to 41, and Democrats said again after the vote that they would move on to other legislation next week.)

Reid and Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), in an effort to mollify a handful of conservative Democrats and moderate Republicans, have spent the past several weeks trimming the bill to reduce its deficit impact. But after jettisoning several provisions to help the old, the poor and the jobless, reducing the bill's ten-year deficit impact down from $134 billion to just $33 billion, the bill is still sinking. Not a single Republican is willing to lend support and Nebraska Democrat Ben Nelson is still holding out, leaving Democrats two votes short of the 60 needed to overcome the GOP filibuster.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/24/jobs-bill-thursdays-doome_n_624404.html

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x354353


Statement by the Press Secretary on Republican Obstruction of Jobless Benefits and State Aid

Today, Republicans in the Senate for the second time blocked a bill that includes critical aid for states and American families. This legislation extends benefits for Americans looking for work and would save the jobs of thousands of teachers, firefighters and police officers by providing relief to states struggling with budget shortfalls. And it includes tax cuts for businesses that keep research and development jobs here in the United States. By blocking an up or down vote on this legislation, Republicans in the Senate obstructed a common-sense package that would save jobs, extend tax cuts for businesses and provide relief for American families who have suffered through the worst economic downfall since the Great Depression, even after Democrats offered multiple compromises to gain Republican support for the bill. The President has been clear: Americans should not fall victim to Republican obstruction at a time of great economic challenge for our nation’s families. The President will continue to press Congress to pass this bill and bring this relief that’s critical to our economic recovery.

Create a Executive Order...Mandating benefits for UNEMPLOYED JOB SEEKERS....because THAT is what they are, until the end of the year. And he needs to do this A.S.A.P.

Until he does, he can't spew this nonsense without looking like a completely powerless lame duck.

Regardless of whether this get passed or not, extending unemployment only prolongs the inveitable until Winter, which is the worst time to be losing the pitiful benefits from unemployment..

Nobody asks the states how they are able to pay the unemployment benefits.. Last time I checked, Unemployment Benefits were drawn from State coffers from state witholding taxes. The states are Broke, the Federal Government pays billions a day in interest alone, and they keep printing money while indebting the citizens for the rest of their lives.

People need fucking jobs, not an allowance that is barely enough to live on.

The absolute stupidity of this administration is collosal. Bail out the banks that keep millions of homes empty and rotting in the hopes of a reinflated bubble and housing market.. How stupid is that?

It's time to let the correction occur without this inept fiddling and bandaid measures that only prolong the duration.

The real truth is that we have squandered what notional wealth we had as a country on 2 ongoing wars, which are being waged for no apparent reason that I can tell, as all the reasons have been proven to be exagerations and lies. So we fight for Oil and resources, while talking out of our asses about Democracy and freedom by raping sovereign nations for there mineral wealth...

We have bailed out banksters that were corrupt and doing what the Government wanted until the Ponzi scheme collapsed, and now we see a Government Politicizing 40 years of manipulation as soley the republicans fault, when the Democrats themselves are siding with the Republicans!

Wake up America! The jig is up, and the Government and all the other corrupt mechanisms that they enable via law won't go without a fight.

who vote against this.

I'd like to compare that list to the list of Congressmen (and women) who voted against bailing out the big banks. I'd also like to compare that list to the list of Congressmen (and women) who vote against lifting the cap on oil company liability. Another comparison I would like to make is that list versus the list of Congressmen (and women) who vote for increased military spending and against increased taxes. Let's see specifically which side which Congressmen (and women) are on.

the president should only name republicans.

Raebrek!!!

$750 billion for war. But not even $3 billion for people who are out of work because of their greed and corruption.

no cots, no real filibuster, no keeping em in the senate past the 4th of july vacation? har de har harry

Msongs

I don't understand why people think it helps to live in a fantasy world.

from wikipedia on the senate and filibuster:

In the modern filibuster, the senators trying to block a vote do not have to hold the floor and continue to speak as long as there is a quorum,

although the Senate Majority Leader may require an actual traditional filibuster if he or she so chooses.<16>

In the past, when one senator became exhausted, another would need to take over to continue the filibuster. Ultimately, the filibuster could be exhausted by a majority who would even sleep in cots outside the Senate Chamber to exhaust the filibusterers. Today, the minority just advises the majority leader that the filibuster is on. All debate on the bill is stopped until cloture is voted by three-fifths (now 60 votes) of the Senate. Some modern Senate critics have called for a return to the old dramatic endurance contest, arguing that the ease with which a nominal "filibuster" can be staged (compared to the real suspension of business) has led to a progressively wider use of it and has contributed to perceived "gridlock".<19>

They don't even usually have a vote when they're "filibustering". They just have 41 Senators notify the Majority Leader and they don't bring the bill to cloture at all. When Reid forces the vote, he's forcing an actual filibuster according to the rules.

The is no floor filibuster anymore.

You mean it wasn't real!?!?

I think I'll commit suicide now, it's all just so depressing.. Boo Hoo

Fantasy is what the American people are spoon fed daily on the boob tube, unless you watch only programs like Nature on PBS, and if you do, you end up crying at how much we have lost due to extinction caused by greed and pollution.

And the Constitution says the Senate sets their rules, so there you are. There is no individual fillibuster anymore.

The Republicans Fillibustered The Unemployed. Maybe if for just one motherfucking time we ALL said the same fucking thing...

War in Iran?
War in Asia?
Bankrupt the middle Class so more people join the Military?
Bankrupt America to create more fear?
Blame the illegal Immigrant, because they can't foment a race war due to Obama?
Create a villain in BP and exploit the situation despite the fact that BP and the US Military are co dependant?
Break out the zero Point Energy systems that are hidden due to National Security and Balance of Power issues?



The trouble for them is that most Americans are waking up and exmining what we are being told to be afraid of..

Ultimately, the root cause comes back to corruption, capitalism, greed, and ultimately, dominion.

By dominion, I mean it just as the way the bible say it.. Dominion over the Earth, and all the fishes and animals, as if man is somehow superior.

It's clear that the powers that be think of us as animals, simply because we do not belong to the Good Ole Boy club. What the current members don't realize, they they are the lowest tranche on the totem poll, and they will be swept aside when the going gets rough.

When this fact materializes, thats when the real fireworks begin.

I don't know when, or what the trigger will be, but I can smell it. People on DU smell it. The people I talk to on the street smell it... It's palapable.

It's a relic from the past, and more common in Jinny Stewart's movie.

Truth be told is that all a Senator has to do is say "I suggest the absence of a quorum", and not give any speech at all. We would be staring at an empty Senate chamber on CSPAN 2.

This is SO WRONG! :grr:

Did not DENY it is a possibly for the President. At this point, unless the GOP "GROW A BRAIN" the next time the bill comes to vote possibly next week, in the Congress...the ONLY HOPE is President Obama. The video of Ed talking to Tom Harkin, is at the bottom of my article...

http://www.examiner.com/x-48896-Detroit-Job-Search-Examiner~y2010m6d24-Majority-does-not-rule-when-it-comes-to-helping-unemployed-job-seekers

And this is a time there is so much tragedy and sadness in our country.

I hate to see this happen.

Our founding fathers lacked the imagination to forsee how unprincipled or craven the members of the Senate would become.

when their friends and relatives, who they KNOW have sent out 100s of resumes and dozens of interviews but still remain unemployed, are now forced entirely into foreclosure, bankruptcy, probably families falling apart through the stress, divorce, ....how is America going to react?

So far feeling assured that many were being at least nominally supported, has probably kept many a bit subdued. Now the realities of this level of un- and under-employment are going to be hitting them in the face pretty hard here soon.

We're used to being kicked when we're down.

People in France are striking because their retirement age is being pushed up. I couldn't imagine that kind of strike or uprising here.

Over there, the gov is SOMEWHAT scared of the people.
Over here, our "representatives" know they don't have much to fear. Most of them will be in their job for life unless they choose to leave.

aka Teapartiers, and the fact that this is probably going to be hitting a good number of them. Seems I recall reading that many of them, though white and male, are also on the dole one way or another, so I'm guessing a good bunch of them are also on extended unemployment. Furthermore the physicians' payment on medicare will effect a huge number of them, if the doctors begin to refuse Medicare patients, like many of the Teapartiers....

....money for corporate wars, money for corporate bailouts, money for corporate tax breaks, money for corporate anything, GOOD!....money for people to survive, BAD!

Democrats, the peoples' party, what a fuckin' joke....

Donate food or $$ to your local food bank or community assistance agency.

"All politics is local."
- Tip O'Neill

thing done.

Why do we just grant the filibuster like it happened? Make them do it, and when they are tired, make them vote again.


You think this is how LBJ got the Voting Rights Act, Civil Rights Act, Medicare and too many other programs to count, passed?


I hope anyone who voted against this bill gets what they truly deserve from the universe and quickly.

Make the Republicanites actually camp out in the Senate chamber until they get bored. Make them stay through the Fourth of July.

If the Republicanites had that kind of majority, we'd have full-bore fascism by now.

Period. The end.

there's an election to prepare for. can't defend constituents, must get shoes polished. why can't they even pretend to give a damn any more. oh, that's right, they're paid for.

THEY MAY BE OUT OF WORK.... BUT THEY VOTE

Imagine what a Senate with 53 Democrats will do for us.

about the idiots on the right. I don't know what states they're in or whatever, but if one of them was MY Senator, I would choose not to vote for them in the fall, or whenever their term ends. Anyone who voted negatively on a measure like this should be shot.

And, this action just reconfirms that I WILL NEVER VOTE FOR A REPUKE OR DINO. The repukes publicly are sticking up for BP-after, to my understanding, their negligence and taking shortcuts. Now it's "accidents happen." What a bunch of bullshite-they did not take safety precautions and it seems that profit trumpets all, even at the expense of human lives, the environment, and all of those poor creatures. Nothing but damned sociopaths--and these repukes stand for them, while against the people, again. And, some of the repukes comments on those with no jobs is just outright disgusting. Here in Nevada, when there are businesses hiring there are hundreds applying for positions.

And yet, we hear again about another plant leaving the country-businesses going out of the country, which they helped, as well as, the DLC. They create the problem, then they blame the victims--again, totally disgusting!!!!!

They claim a million people are out of work unwillingly. When will that part of the story be told? No. That doesn't seem to matter except as background noise to the 'blows' Obama and the Democrats are getting in that politics game.

The repukes think that they've won--well, the way I see it is, they can just keep digging that grave. Keep going against the people, basically calling them lazy (I believe the wackos were doing the same thing during the depression). Keep standing up for mega corporations, while some of their actions cause more and more harm to people and our communities. Yeah, keep doing that--and, maybe finally the majority of Americans will get a clue where they stand with these sociopaths.

And, everytime a repuke mentions the deficit, I think of Reagan who increased the deficit to 128%--I think of * privatizing part of the military, so his corporate war profiteering friends could take more and more of our money at high expense, for shoddy service. For eight fekking years, all that public money being funneled (and to this day, billions unaccounted for) to greedy war profiteers. And now, the repukes are worried about the deficit-well, now that * (who has one of the lowest rates for job creation than any other president) and company has screwed us all--I hope the repuke party goes the way of the dino!!!!

unemployment insurance on the grounds of balancing the budget and give credit to the Congress person of that state for pointing out the need to avoid voting for anything that requires an appropriation that is not paid for. This administration is too nice to those who seek to destroy it and the life of those who are unemployed because of the crashing of the economy.

1. The GOP needs to admit that they were responsible for the illegal war in Iraq (even the subject campaign was partially successful)
2. The GOP needs to admit that the tax cuts produce no significant stimulus and were primary cause of the debt
3. The GOP needs to admit that the bailout were a bad idea and the large banks should have been nationalized and broken into dozens and dozens of regional and community investment and retail banks
4. The GOP does not need to admit they were part of the escalation in Afghanstan because that was occured under Obama.

which is POSITIVITY

The MODE must on the Poz side of things....

Also I love how the AP just assumes the Democrats will lose big in the fall. Way to be impartial!