Unemployment Benefits Finally Approved

DCCC begs us to keep shelling out cash so Walt Minnick can keep voting with the GOP on... everything!

Yesterday the House voted one last time-- so that their bill and the one the Senate finally passed this week would be identical and Obama could sign it, retroactively sending missed insurance compensation checks to over 2.6 million Americans thrown out of work by the very policies put forward by the conservatives who voted against unemployment insurance! The final vote in the House yesterday was 272-152, 10 worthless conservative Democrats joining Boehner to form a coalition against working families and 31 Republicans crossing the aisle in the other direction, mostly too scared to vote against their own constituents.

The treacherous Democrats-- exactly the types the DCCC is sure to give the most support in the upcoming midterms-- are retiring Washington shithead Brian Baird, Marion Berry (Blue Dog-AR), Bobby Bright (Blue Dog-AL), Jim Cooper (Blue Dog-TN), Baron Hill (Blue Dog-IN), Betsy Markey (Blue Dog-CO), Mike McIntyre (Blue Dog-NC), Walt Minnick (Blue Dog-ID), Glenn Nye (Blue Dog-VA), Heath Shuler (Blue Dog-NC)... oh, an angry, retiring mentally unbalanced guy and 9 reactionary Blue Dogs. What a shock!

Speaker Pelosi was quick to blame Republicans responsible for causing this mess-- and rightly so-- but it strikes me as a little hypocritical that she rails against them and doesn't say a word about conservative Democrats who did the same-- and who are getting millions of dollars in DCCC re-election funds from a DCCC that she controls.

This emergency legislation will extend unemployment insurance (UI) benefits to millions of Americans families, which Republicans have held up for more than 7 weeks causing an estimated 2.5 million families to lose their lifeline that they have earned through their work... This is urgently needed after weeks of Senate Republicans’ ongoing obstruction of job creating legislation that extended critical unemployment benefits to help Americans who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own make ends meet as they look for a new job. We will not abandon these families.

Note: without the connivance of conservative Democrat Ben Nelson, the bill would have passed weeks ago and averted the tragedy for hundreds of thousands of American families. That said, most conservatives-- and especially most conservative sociopaths without consciences are Republicans. John Campbell, a far right California congressman from Orange County, voted against the unemployment extension once again yesterday. His opponent, former Irvine Mayor Beth Krom, currently on that city's Council, has been endorsed by Blue America-- and, of course, ignored by the DCCC. We called her after the vote yesterday and she told us she was disappointed-- but not surprised-- that Campbell wasn't among the nearly three dozen Republicans who put aside their partisan agenda for a moment to do something for average Americans in a tough spot. “Once again," she said, "as Congress in a rare show of bipartisan support voted to extend jobless benefits for 2.5 million unemployed Americans, John Campbell decided partisanship was more important than leadership. While Mr. Campbell makes excuses that he can’t support something if he doesn’t know exactly where the money is coming from, he conveniently forgets voting to support two wars as well as the bailout of Wall Street and the auto industry without ever concerning himself with how it would be paid for. The truth is, a lot of those 2.5 million unemployed Americans have people like John Campbell to thank for supporting policies that undermined our national economy.”

Just down the road a ways Blue America has another progressive candidate, Bill Hedrick, running against another reactionary shill, corrupt sleazebag Ken Calvert, who also refused to join in the bipartisan support to help the unemployed workers. "While I'm glad Congress finally passed extending unemployment benefits," said Hedrick, "it's sad to see local families being held hostage by the partisan political games Republicans like Ken Calvert are playing in Washington. Congressman Calvert should be ashamed of himself for using local families as pawns to score political points and for turning his back on his constituents when they needed his support the most."

Interestingly, every single Republican the Blue America candidates are running against voted in opposition to the extension: Michele Bachmann, John Boehner, Calvert, Campbell, and, of course, North Carolina crackpot Virginia Foxx. Ah... yes, crackpot Virginia Foxx... I called Billy Kennedy what the folks in western North Carolina think about Foxx's anti-family antics. He told me that around 9,300 of her constituents "have lost their jobs due to outsourcing to cheaper labor in China."

Her reasoning is that the government cannot possibly be expected to help those who are desperate to find jobs because it will add to the deficit.

But Virginia Foxx, the richest House member from North Carolina, doesn't worry about her personal tax cuts breaking the bank. She supports huge tax breaks that are extended to the richest Americans, even if the government has to borrow money to pay for it.

The unemployment benefits extension cost $34 billion. Virginia Foxx opposes it. The tax breaks for the wealthiest 5 percent of Americans cost more than one trillion dollars, all of which is borrowed money. Virginia Foxx supports them.

The big tax break windfall Virginia Foxx supports didn't go to most Americans. It didn't go to Americans who work hard days and long hours. It went to the bankers, big oil executives, crooked Wall Street traders, and... Virginia Foxx.

The way I see it, we just can't afford Virginia Foxx's tax break. And we can't afford Rep. Foxx any more either.

Too few jobs have been created in the past 10 years, and good people looking for jobs can't find them. But why should Virginia Foxx care? She's got hers. And you're paying for it.

I'm calling Virginia Foxx out on this hypocrisy. It's clear that she's out of touch, and it's time she took a peek outside those thick walls of Washington and came home to struggle to make ends meet like the rest of us.