Get a real good look at the man who is holding up an extension of unemployment benefits. Sen. Jim Bunning, a Republican from Kentucky, is filibustering a one-month extension of unemployment & health insurance benefits for 400,000 Americans and taking heat from both sides of the aisle on the move.
Democrats and the White House are voicing outrage at Bunning's move, saying it is preventing the neediest Americans from getting government assistance. Granted he's pointed out that we've already run up a $5 trillion dollar debt and that a $10 billion dollar extension to it will just add to the growing pot and must be paid for with spending cuts elsewhere in the budget.
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ReplyDeleteSenate passes jobless aid and road funding. Putting a lone senator's cantankerous challenge behind it, the Senate is back to work on a $100 billion-plus bill reviving popular tax breaks and extending longer and more generous jobless benefits through the end of the year.
Kentucky Republican Jim Bunning relented on Tuesday evening, freeing the Senate to approve stopgap legislation extending for another month a host of programs, including highway funding, health insurance subsidies for the unemployed and benefits for the long-term jobless. That gives Congress time to consider the far larger measure covering most of the same programs.
But the daunting price tag on the longer-term measure guarantees more complications and an even rougher path through the Senate than experienced by the bill passed Tuesday.
Bunning held up action for days, causing the government to furlough highway workers and allowing some unemployment benefits to expire. He wanted to force Democrats to find ways to finance the bill so it wouldn't add to the deficit. But his move sparked a political tempest that subjected Republicans to withering media coverage and cost the party politically.
Bunning's support among Republicans was dwindling, while Democrats used to being on the defensive over health care and the deficit seemed to relish the battle.
Once Bunning gave in, the stopgap bill -- which passed the House last week -- passed the Senate by a 78-19 vote. President Barack Obama signed it into law late Tuesday.