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Sen. Olympia Snowe, in letter to Harry Reid, urges stand-alone jobless aid billBy Lori Montgomery
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, June 26, 2010; A09One day after voting to block Democratic legislation that would have extended emergency jobless benefits, a Republican senator urged Democrats to try again, saying she would support a stripped-down bill aimed solely at guaranteeing unemployment checks to millions of people who have been out of work more than six months.
Sen. Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine), a key moderate whose vote had been ardently sought by Democratic leaders, sent a letter Friday to Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), arguing that the plight of the long-term unemployed must be swiftly addressed.
"The hundreds of thousands of unemployed Americans who are losing jobless benefits every week deserve our immediate attention," Snowe wrote, calling for "a free-standing extension of unemployment insurance benefits" to be brought to the Senate floor for a vote early next week. "Separating the unemployment insurance provisions [from numerous other provisions in the bill] and passing it as emergency legislation acknowledges the urgency of helping those who continue to look for work."
Reid spokesman Jim Manley derided the request, noting that Republicans have in recent weeks blocked efforts to push through the same stand-alone extension of jobless benefits that Snowe is now requesting. (CLAIM FACTUALLY IN ERROR- EPA) If Snowe wants to help jobless workers, Manley said, she should line up support among her GOP colleagues to break a stalemate that has dragged on for more than two months.
"We appreciate Senator Snowe's concerns, but the fact is that she is sending the letter to the wrong person and to the wrong party," Manley wrote in an e-mail. "We know that the thousands of unemployed workers in Maine want an explanation as to why she joined with all Republicans several times to vote against legislation to help the unemployed . . . but Senator Snowe provides no evidence that any other Republicans support her proposal."
Idiot, if the bill addressed ONLY unemployment extensions, please provide proof that ANY Senator could alienate all the unemployed in the states by voting against it?
How much more clear can it be that real accomplishments, real benefits, and real needs for the people who make up the nation are simply not a primary concern of ANY ruling party?
How much MORE cynical do these people intend to make the populace?
Until, 'we pretend to vote and they pretend to represent'?
Th American system cannot work AT ALL if factionalism and party dominance becomes more important than SERVING THE PEOPLE.
But WE are ultimately responsible.
JUST KEEP PULLING THE "OTHER LEVER" if they cannot figure it out.
If the tactic of massive and unreadable bills is maintained FOR THE SPECIFIC PURPOSE of labeling the other guys as obstructionists who don't care about the 'poor people' (small people?) without jobs, or health care or, child lunches when they object to something else entirely in the omnibus mess, the NATION WILL CEASE FUNCTIONING, and human nature will begin to look for people, and a way in which government CAN FUNCTION AND ACHIEVE AND ACT.
We will become ungovernable by sustaining a 'political class' whose prime concern is their battle with the other party, not what benefits the nation.
Thus a primary warning of the Federalist papers will have been achieved.
SIMPLE SINGLE FUNCTION BILLS PLEASE.
If that's too much work, LEAVE.
BTW, many of you know I live in rural Maine, and it is MY observation that most out of work people here are already PAST unemployment and are OUT of the statistics being kept. These are DESPERATE FAMILIES who are past caring about party, and have family members doing ANYTHING to earn money. And I mean ANYTHING.
8 comments:
The Republicans are responsible for their own PR.
They failed to get the message out.
Agree.
Net result = suffering, anger, and a growing .....
15 second spot, bearded guy:
"I don't vote all the time but when I do I vote ..."
Yep.
numerous other provisions in the bill
Such as?
You won't recognise America by the end of 2010.
These "experts" agree
Experts in quites because I don't really recognize any of them and they're all probably way smarter than me.
BUT
I have come to believe in the last couple months that pulling the other lever is not what it is going to take to fix this mess. I'm not even sure we'll get to that point.
Because if, among many other things, Congress let's this expire at the end of July and THEN TAKES THEIR CUSTOMARY SUMMER RECESS A WEEK OR SO LATER while another 5 or 6 million Ameicans start the plunge to the bottom with a millstone around their neck. . .
Why MR you sound like once of them radeequoooles.
Here's how I really feel, we are goign to have about an 8-12 year period of disgust and a building combination alienation, bitterness, apathy and RAGE. Towards the end if that political class which today simply has those who identify with the main 'tea party' concerns so DEAD WRONG the primary identifier is, like BIDEN, they think we are just a bunch of dumb smart ass potential terrorists,...if that class cannot reconnect with the concerns of the american people and hte basic founding ideas, they will find they have demanded open revolt. Tax revolt. Bartering. Local printed scrips (it happened during the 30's). Isolated armed incidents with GROUPS, in growing frequency. Once a month, maybe more. Causing accelerating resentments, anger, calls for repression and CENSORSHIP..for the national good, of course.
And if the govt responds to this with more force there will be civil war. They don't have to. And frankly I don't think the national guard, US marshalls, etc could be depended upon to carry out such actions among the masses. This won't look like some tax freaks in NH when it's grandma and grandpa who just get tired of it all in a group of 1000. More still, such a group is liable to ACTUALLY turn up at some town hall with feathers and honey (HOT TAR WOULD BE VIOLENT).
They can either have responsive govt or revolt (which is an eternal truth here). They cannot spend the future hopes and ingenuity of generations for what they see as have not's for the cynical purpose of vote getting to empower themselves endlessly and expect no consequences.
I figure about 3 presidential elections is all we have (regardless of Al Qaeda). At that point the confluence of foreign and domestic consequences will be unavoidable.
And then we will begin to oscillate between the Gracchi and Sulla, until we pray for an end to disorder, and we all know what comes after that.
MR that site is quoting Lyndon Larouche.
Danger Will RObinson
Which is indeed partly why experts is in quotews.
Although it also quotes WSJ and a few others so I put it here, anyway, not as a main post.
More interesting was the Richard Russell piece.
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