The Senate
voted to put forth a measure to extend unemployment benefits. It passed by the
narrowest of margins, the vote was 60 – 37. The bill now needs to be voted on
again by the Senate and if successful goes to the House for ratification. This
is not going to be an easy task and may not be ratified soon because of strong
opposition from some Senators and Congressman in the House. The main points of
contention are:
·
The
legislation be paid for in advance by finding savings elsewhere in the budget.
They don’t want the savings to come from the farm bill, which by the way hasn’t reached final agreement or implementation.
·
Possibly reducing benefits
·
Requiring
a strict end date to these benefits
·
That
after one year of unemployment job training participation be a requirement.
These ideas
and requests are not unreasonable and deserve to be given just consideration but
right now 1.3 million Americans are without benefits and could be destitute and
homeless very soon. There are approximately 600,000 children that are being
affected by Congress not acting on this legislation. The time has come to bail
our own friends and neighbors out, just like we did the big companies a few
years ago. These unemployment benefits are essential to the survival of many of
these people. Although I agree with the idea of having to pay for something
before legislating it into law and some of the other contentions being raised I
do not agree that you wait until the last hour to try and fix the problems with
unemployment benefits. There are too many people hurting right now. It is time
for Congress to act and stop politicking and get this done for the American
people. They can extend the benefits for a fixed period of time and then work
on the issues that need to be addressed and inform the people well in advance
what the limitations and expectations are so they can reasonably adjust to any
changes. The time to act is now.
“Let our New Year's resolution be this: we will be there for one another as fellow members of humanity, in the finest sense of the word.”
― Goran Persson
“Let our New Year's resolution be this: we will be there for one another as fellow members of humanity, in the finest sense of the word.”
― Goran Persson
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