House GOP blocks bill to extend jobless benefits

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Happy Holidays! The weather will indeed be frightful for many families this season as the House GOP has blocked the extension of unemployment benefits for 2 million people. The party's over on Dec. 1st.

Click here for AP article

It will be interesting to see if there's a bit of voter's remorse over this one, especially considering how hard the GOP is pushing for the extension of tax cuts for the wealthy.

You left out the fact as to the reason why the Republicans are blocking it for the moment.

"The fact is, we can both provide this help and pay for it by cutting less effective stimulus spending," said Rep. Charles Boustany, R-La. "That's what we should be debating today."

Added Rep. Mike Pence, the No. 3 Republican in the House: "We're facing a fiscal crisis in this country. If we're going to choose to extend unemployment again we've got to find a way to pay for it."

http://www.rr.com/news/topic/article/rr ... benefits/2

That's from the very article you are sourcing. They aren't against unemployment benefits, they are against spending even more money when it could be paid for by cutting things that aren't working like Spendulus.

BS. They have never once worried over whether they could pay for the tax cuts they always push.

Uh that money isn't the government's to begin with, it is the people's money. The Republicans want people to keep more of their money that they earned.

Disregarding your rhetorical dressings, the fact remains that slashing taxes the way the Republicans want to creates a fiscal crisis. You cannot claim to be the party of fiscal responsibility when you have no proposals to deal with that.

When was the last time a Republican president balanced the budget?

Let me break it down for you, they are not cutting taxes they are extending the current tax rate. We are going to have massive tax hikes on everyone, raising taxes in an Economic Recession is a bad idea which will make things worse and we may even go into a Depression.

They are seeking to extend a temporary and massively fiscally irresponsible tax cut that Bush rammed through via reconciliation. It was an extremely regressive tax cut, and it was terrible for the budget. They didn't find a way to pay for it when they implemented it then, and they don't have one now. Besides, the GOP is always in favor of additional tax cuts.


That is a LIE and you know it. Allowing the tax rate for the top 2% to return to Clinton-era levels while everyone else gets a renewal of the tax cut is not a "massive tax hike on everyone."

Seriously, I'm not the one lieing, I can't help it if you are also lieing to yourself. By definition returning to Clinton-era levels would be a tax hike. I've played along with calling them tax cuts long enough.

You said "everyone." That is a blatant lie. I don't know what universe you live in where 2% of the population is "everyone." I suppose the other 98% don't count?

Hell, my family is in the top 10% and we got a tax CUT from Obama, along with virtually everyone else in the country. You right-wingers live in a paranoid delusional fantasy world where Democrats want to steal all your money to give to black people, put you in a reeducation camp, and kill your grandmother.

Bush's tax cuts are the current tax rate, letting them expire is a tax increase. In case you haven't also figured it out, that the "2%" you keep blabbing about includes small businesses and small business owners. The very people that create over 50% of jobs in this country, yeah hitting small business with a tax increase is really going to help the economy.



Last I checked the tax cuts were from George W. Bush. Obama wants to extend current tax rates for only a certain group of people. Nevermind the fact that you won't get a job from someone whom is dirt poor.

As someone whom is actually from a middle class family, I'm going to point out our taxes are probably about to increase and it isn't just from income taxes.

Among other things, the Democrats are trying to push Cap and Tax, so yeah they are trying to raise taxes in other ways too and it will affect a lot of people making under $80,000 a year.

However you want to frame it, those tax cuts were irresponsible at the time, and continuing them is irresponsible now. The Republicans have no realistic proposals to balance the budget, with or without a continuation of the Bush tax cuts.


Some of them are, most of them are not. But you are still trying to shift the topic away instead of admitting that you were completely wrong about your claim that "everyone" is going to see a tax hike. You can argue your voodoo economics about how a slight tax increase on the ultra-rich is somehow going to hurt the poor, but you claimed that "we are going to have massive tax hikes on everyone" which simply is not true no matter how you try to frame the issue.


Obama also did tax cuts for about the bottom 95% of Americans. The media just didn't make as big a deal about the Obama tax cuts as they did the Bush tax cuts.


A "certain group of people" as in "almost everyone." I am not likely to get a job from an individual, but rather I would be working for a university or corporation. And finally, $200K/year is not "dirt poor" and people in that group still see no tax hike from Obama.


I really doubt your taxes are actually increasing. The overwhelming majority of Americans have seen their taxes go down under the Obama administration.

Any attempt to deliver $1.75 worth of government for every $1.00 collected in taxes is bound to lead to disaster.

ruveyn

The Republicans are planning a "the worse, the better" plan for regaining the White House. They, including their governors, plan to promote draconian liquidationism as much as possible and cause an economic contraction. They believe that the voters will blame the President for the fallout from that. Right now the incentive on the Republican side is to sabotage the country as much as possible and they say that's exactly what they're planning to do. The parties in the US have never been this ruthless until now.

The election is over.

The government threw threw you a few scraps like extended benefits and cash for clunkers to keep you quiet while they were giving trillions to the banksters.

Now they have passed a law that says the banks can foreclose on you without clear title and with forged papers.

So now you are REALLY going to get shafted and if you complain you will see tanks and troops on your street and you will win a free trip to your local FEMA camp.

Enjoy!

Bad timing on the GOP's part to start caring about spending when many unemployed families were depending on those benefits to get through another year in a stagnant economy. Bravo.

Draconian liquidation is always on the agenda for republicans and has nothing to do with any conspiracy; it's just what they believe at this point and it's absolutely absurd and so are the people who support it.