Lone Republican Senator Blocking 1,000,000+ Americans from Unemployment Benefits

[Facial_King]

This guy - Jim Bunning of KY - is going to be a conservative HERO! Keeping all those lazy people from milking at the government teat. Good for him!!!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/20100301/ts_ynews/ynews_ts1202

Excerpt:

Sarah Palin stormed the bestseller list last year with "Going Rogue"-a political memoir whose title coyly referenced the former GOP vice presidential nominee's supposed defiance of the consultants running the McCain campaign. But this year we have a new poster boy for the Going Rogue playbook: GOP Sen. Jim Bunning of Kentucky. For the past week, Bunning has been single-handedly blocking more than a million Americans from receiving unemployment and COBRA health insurance benefits, as of today, when their benefits funded under the 2009 stimulus law run out. The suspension of benefits affects everyone from doctors to government employees.

Since cutting health and unemployment benefits isn't the most popular thing to do in a job-starved recession, the Senate had reached near unanimity on extending these programs. But near-unanimous isn't enough when senators are looking to stretch out the lifespan of benefits about to lapse-they need to reach unanimous consent. And that requirement has delivered a great deal of power into Bunning's hands-- power that has allowed him to block the extension until the Senate find $10.3 billion in spending cuts elsewhere to fund the safety-net spending.

"I believe we should pay for it," Bunning said. "I'm trying to make a point to the people of the United States."

Bunning has long been something of an outlier, even within his own caucus. Last year, he announced his plans to retire, having received de facto votes of no confidence from most Senate campaign strategists. And now that he's got nothing to lose next November, he's bucking all kinds of pressure from GOP leaders, who argue that Bunning's quixotic stand has done nothing to improve the party's "party of no" image.

And indeed, Bunning has seemed oddly cavalier about the broader fallout from his one-man crusade -except that is, when it comes to his own college hoops-viewing schedule. "I have missed the Kentucky-South Carolina game that started at 9:00 and it's the only redeeming chance we had to beat South Carolina since they're the only team that has beat Kentucky this year," he said on the Senate floor last Thursday night. Later, when a Senate colleague pleaded with him to drop his objections to the extension, Bunning reportedly responded by saying, "Tough sh*t."

 

[jod0565]

Yeah, it was stated yesterday on one of the news shows, oh yeah, The Ed Show, of course, is that he has the backing of the republicans - he's their voice.

 

[Lust]

yeah i read about this yesterday.
if only ted had lived another year or two we'd be fillibuster proof. tripled the record for filibusters. exploit much? then he has the audacity to say his only regret is he missed a fuckin basketball game? what a douche. the fucking juveniles we elect to office, its fucking amazing. washington is the apex of "hurry up and wait".

 

[Red Spyder]

Have you guys heard of PAYGO? A law recently passed by the democrat congress? Pay as you go? If the democrats want to pay those benefits, they have to have the money to do so. There's no money. This guy is just upholding this new paygo law.

 

[Facial_King]

Have you guys heard of PAYGO? A law recently passed by the democrat congress? Pay as you go? If the democrats want to pay those benefits, they have to have the money to do so. There's no money. This guy is just upholding this new paygo law.

Really, no money??

Funny how military spending doesn't operate on this basis.

Of course it's politically incorrect (I'll use the term here, even though I HATE it) to mention it, but this is the spending we should really be questioning:

http://static.globalissues.org/i/military/09/country-distribution-2008.png

 

[Rattrap]

And that requirement has delivered a great deal of power into Bunning's hands-- power that has allowed him to block the extension until the Senate find $10.3 billion in spending cuts elsewhere to fund the safety-net spending.

"I believe we should pay for it," Bunning said. "I'm trying to make a point to the people of the United States."

I know nothing else about this fellow, but this makes sense to me.

Really, no money??

Funny how military spending doesn't operate on this basis.

Of course it's politically incorrect (I'll use the term here, even though I HATE it) to mention it, but this is the spending we should really be questioning:

http://static.globalissues.org/i/military/09/country-distribution-2008.png

It also makes sense to me that there's plenty of money there that could be redistributed. After all, how much of it is simply bloat going to no-bid contracts and the like?

 

[Hot Mega]

Have you guys heard of PAYGO? A law recently passed by the democrat congress? Pay as you go? If the democrats want to pay those benefits, they have to have the money to do so. There's no money. This guy is just upholding this new paygo law.

Really, no money??

Funny how military spending doesn't operate on this basis.

Of course it's politically incorrect (I'll use the term here, even though I HATE it) to mention it, but this is the spending we should really be questioning:

http://static.globalissues.org/i/military/09/country-distribution-2008.png

This isn't about PAYGO...(and it's not just Demos supporting this) although on the surface I side with Bunning. His point is there is some $500B in stimulus that hasn't been spent and he thinks somewhere in there can be found the $10B funds to support this.

Problem is...it will come at the expense of some else's pork. GOPers are sticking him out there and Demos are taking the bait....Demos are going to ultimately end up on the wrong PR side of this.

The GOPers only card right now is what they're playing as out of control, wasteful spending...not that it's something they ever worried about in supplemental after supplemental for Iraq but it is a card that can play well.

I love it when the average yokel runs around touting some number..and they're opposed to spending..when they have no concept of what relationship that spending number is to anything. But it is a political card GOPers play effective because Demos never call them on it when they did it.

 

[Will E Worm]

If they wouldn't have let the manufacturing and agricultural base of this country crumble then this wouldn't be a problem.

He should let this little battle go and work on rebuilding our manufacturing and agricultural base.

Bunning's last stand. :1orglaugh:tongue:

 

[titsrock]

It's time to dissolve the Senate. Another example of why it's a useless org with no real purpose except to give fat cats a nice salary and a healthy shot of POWER on their way to retirement (if they ever retire, that is...)

End the useless middle east occupations and we could fund this and a lot of things healthcare-related.

I question the Senator's sanity.

 

[Will E Worm]

It's time to dissolve the Senate.

That's Constitutional.

Maybe, you will like your new home in Canada? :wave:

 

[Baill Inneraora]

It was almost funny to hear Bunning whining about missing the Kentucky basketball game because session went late because him!

 

[titsrock]

I love it when the average yokel runs around touting some number..and they're opposed to spending..when they have no concept of what relationship that spending number is to anything. But it is a political card GOPers play effective because Demos never call them on it when they did it.

If the Dems would only find some backbone. Harry Reid needs to be sent to the showers and Howard Dean needs to be installed as Sen Majority Leader immediately. Let's auto-grant Howard Dean Nevada citizenship (as the Clintons quickly est. NY residency) and start getting shit done before it's too late.

My sense is that the Dems think the economy will magically turn around in time for the Nov elections and Obama will announce a stepping-up of the middle east timelines in time for elections. Well, that ain't enough. The Dems have not stayed the course on their campaign promises.

Obama could've begun troop withdrawals on Day 1, closed Gitmo, and announced that Healthcare Reform was going to go through Reconciliation, just like Dumbya's Tax Cuts went through Reconciliation....:dunno:

Reconciliation is the only way to get anything done. Now, granted, those tax cuts basically provided the foundation for massive deficits which the wars then piled on...but, Reconciliation when used for something that people actually want--like a Gov't Health plan--:thumbsup: is the only way to go these days...

 

[CunningStunts]

Like it or not, this was how our system was set up... to slow down/stop the Federal government from doing too much. :dunno:

 

[Rey C.]

If they wouldn't have let the manufacturing and agricultural base of this country crumble then this wouldn't be a problem.

He should let this little battle go and work on rebuilding our manufacturing and agricultural base.

Excellent point!

Will E Worm, is that really you?! Wink twice and tap your right foot if it's really you. :1orglaugh

 

[Will E Worm]

Excellent point!

Will E Worm, is that really you?! Wink twice and tap your right foot if it's really you. :1orglaugh

Wink Wink Tap

This is really me. :tongue:

They will balk at the smallest things and that's not when we need them.

 

[Rey C.]

I've pot bad news for Bunning: we don't have enough money to pay for his Senate pension. I think he's retiring this year. So... no pension and no health insurance (footed by the American people). Too bad. So sad. But I'm sure that he'll understand.

 

[maildude]

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2010/03/01/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry6256349.shtml

 

[Hot Mega]

GOP's Bunning relents, OKs action on jobless bill

Bunning relents.

WASHINGTON – A Republican that had been stubbornly blocking a stopgap measure to extend help for the jobless relented on Tuesday under withering assaults from Democrats and dwindling support within his own party.

Sen. Jim Bunning of Kentucky had been single-handedly blocking the $10 billion measure, causing federal furloughs and threatening the unemployment benefits of hundreds of thousands of people. He was seeking to force Democrats to find ways to finance the bill so that it wouldn't add to the deficit, but his move sparked a political tempest that has subjected Republicans to withering media coverage and cost the party politically.

The bill is now slated to come to a vote Tuesday night. It passed the House last week and is likely to be signed into law as soon as possible by President Barack Obama so that 2,000 furloughed Transportation Department workers can go back to work on Wednesday.

A law that provided stopgap road funding and longer and more generous unemployment benefits and health insurance subsidies for the jobless expired Monday. Without the extension, about 200,000 jobless people would have lost federal benefits this week alone, according to the liberal-leaning National Employment Law Project.

Continued at link......

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_budget_impasse

 

[PirateKing]

I've pot bad news for Bunning: we don't have enough money to pay for his Senate pension. I think he's retiring this year. So... no pension and no health insurance (footed by the American people). Too bad. So sad. But I'm sure that he'll understand.

don't worry about him, im sure he has lobbyists to suppliment his income.:wave2:

 

[Ace Bandage]

You are a United States Senator. You are a member of an elite group of elected officials chosen to represent your state in choosing a direction for our country. Can you worry about something a little more important than a fucking basketball game? C'mon man, it's not even tournament time yet!

This guy just annoys the shit out of me. If you're the only person objecting, maybe you're the problem, not the bill. Just throwin' that out there. Christ man, you're single-handedly erasing the already fragile bipartisanship (it's not like we can push through a health care plan) that's been forged to try and get these benefits through. Good call! Idiots like Bunning give Republicans a bad name and that's the last thing we need after the previous eight fucking years. Ugh! I'm done, this just makes me angry...