Dems and President Obama are talking, again. Is anyone listening?
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/elizabethchan/gGGjScTax Cuts for the Wealthy or Help for the Unemployed?
By Elizabeth Chan - Jul 16, 2010 1:33:19 PM ET
For months now, Republicans in Congress have been objecting to—and often obstructing—the extension of unemployment benefits to help out-of-work Americans, on the grounds that these benefits add too much to the national deficit. But at the same time, they’re pushing to renew the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy—tax cuts that the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates could increase the national debt by an incredible $3.4 trillion dollars over the next 10 years.
Jay Bookman at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has a great blog post putting these conflicting positions into perspective.
In “No help for the jobless, but $3.4 trillion for tax cuts,” Bookman writes: “The $35 billion needed to help the jobless through the worst economic crisis in 80 years amounts to barely 1 percent of the $3.4 trillion cost of extending the {Bush} tax cuts.”
President Obama is urging Congress to extend unemployment benefits, saying:
“We’re fighting to speed up this recovery and keep the economy growing by all means possible. That means extending unemployment insurance for workers who lost their jobs. ...
Still, at a time when millions of Americans feel a deep sense of urgency in their own lives, Republican leaders in Washington just don’t get it. While a majority of senators support taking these steps to help the American people, some are playing the same old Washington games and using their power to hold this relief hostage—a move that only ends up holding back our recovery. It doesn’t make sense.”
Next week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will once again try to move forward with a bill to provide relief for the unemployed.
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