Political sparring delays unemployment benefit extension

Democratic politicians will hold a press conference Tuesday to blast Republican politicians for holding up legislation to extend unemployment benefits another 14 weeks for the nation's out of work citizens. Elected representatives in both houses of Congress have agreed on the details of a bill and apparently have the votes to pass it, but Republicans blocked passage by unanimous consent, and continue to offer what Democrats characterize as unrelated amendments in a series of parliamentary maneuvers designed to stall passage of the benefits.

Democratic leaders have scheduled a forum Wednesday to discuss further measures which might be enacted to put Americans back to work. Princeton University economist Alan Blinder, economist Mark Zandi, former adviser to both Obama and McCain, and Heather Boushey, former senior economist for the Joint Economic Committee are expected to attend. With unemployment at 9.8% nationwide, an annual deficit of $1.4 trillion, national debt of $11.9 trillion, and more than 4 million jobs lost so far this year, Obama administration senior adviser Valerie Jarrett said, "Everything is on the table."

Senate Budget Committee ranking Republican Judd Gregg said he believes the procedural differences over unemployment benefit extension will be resolved soon. Gregg wants to avoid the benefit extension measure adding to the national deficit. "This deficit is driven by us," Gregg said. "The systemic risk today is the Congress of the United States. We're creating massive debts which we're passing on to our children."


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No good bastards in the GOP. They weren't worried about the fucking deficit when Bush was in there.

Anything to screw over the American people--that's the Republican way.

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