Posted on 03/02/2010 4:05:42 PM PST by ButThreeLeftsDo
Under increasing pressure from Democrats and members of his own party, Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) Tuesday night abandoned his one-man filibuster of a one-month extension to unemployment benefits and other programs.
In the end Bunning agreed to a deal allowing him one vote on an amendment to pay for the bill’s $10 billion cost. That proposal was offered by Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) last Thursday at the start of his filibuster, but Bunning rejected it because he feared his amendment would not pass.
Reid has also agreed to give Bunning two votes on amendments to a larger, one-year extension bill that is currently under consideration in the Senate.
(Excerpt) Read more at rollcall.com ...
It serves the Democrats well with the independents they need who don't really know what is really happening. The news is reporting that one man is holding up the unemployment benefits, and then tell why (sort of).
What they should be reporting is a Republican insists that congress follow the new the paygo rules (which Obama has stated must be done) because it is necessary to reduce borrowing and the national debt.
The press and the Dems have framed this as an obstructionist issue rather than a fiscal responsibility issue. Not a good move for the Republicans in the court of public opinion, except for the few who know what is really going on.
YEP -- you'll be doing a lot of checking, I'm afraid.
$800 a month? No. I don’t know anyone who gets $800 a month in unemployment.
This was a wise move. Now is not the time to fight this fight. Now is the time to exploit it.
Ah yes. The answer to all our prayers. Democrats and Republicans are all and equally bad. Beck has said so, well. it must be true. Not one scintilla of difference at all, not now not ever! They all vote the same and they are all progressives. So what better time for the answer to all our political problems- a third party. Clean as the wind driven snow. And, a time tested winning political strategy.
Everything has changed now. The entire nation has suddenly turned off American Idol and is engaged. They fully understand the virtue of an ideologically pure conservative movement. Now, Vermonters and Oklahomans will join forces and thrust the third party movement into an insurmountable lead! This will be mere child’s play to get the third party infrastructure well in place in only a couple of months. And of course, the third party will sweep in to take control of the Senate and House in the 2010 election.
Third party. Yes, indeed the debate is over.
Agree. It is often forgotten that politics is the art of the possible. Ideological purity is great when you can get it, but over-reaching is even worse. Ya think the Dims would have liked a do over for 2009?
let the worthless eaters starve.
a further year of unemployment benefits? What’s the incentive to find a job?
Yes 500 dollars a week is keeping people from finding a job. Are you serious? Who can live on that? Nobody that I know. Heck the mortgage can barely cover 2 grand a month. Sometimes I wonder if FREEPERS ever suffered economcially. I seriously doubt it.
I don't think a $10 billion unemployment benefits bill is the sort of spending we won't to stop during a deep recession.
We need to stop poorly crafted stimulus plans that do nothing for our infrastructure and fund overseas companies and wasteful pork projects of no lasting value.
A lot of FReepers and the public in general are very unsophisticated in their knowledge of how parliamentary maneuvers and chamber rules overlap politics.
Huh? One vote, two votes? Whachootalkinbout Willis?
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Beltway language has moved beyond jargon to become a dialect, hasn’t it. No wonder they do not hear the voice of the people.
“Give him a vote” also sounds like royalty giving a lesser vassal a goody, like giving an estate to a loyal knight.
“a further year of unemployment benefits? What’s the incentive to find a job?”
If you’ve ever collected unemployment benefits you would know you have to document that you are looking for work, even if there is none. It’s really not fun, and almost everyone would prefer working.
Darn. I was really hoping he’d hold out for at least a week. I love it when senators do this kind of thing. The American public has no problem philosophically with reducing federal employees’ benefits or getting rid of waste, etc., etc. — but when Congress as a whole or an individual member blocks funding like this, it results in such things as road projects grinding to a halt (such is the case with Bunning’s action and a vital bridge repair on the federally-owned George Washington Turnpike in northern Virginia), national parks closing, transportation workers’ absence delaying or cancelling commercial flights, etc. Then people get angry, contact their Congressman — and the obstacle is hastily removed. More importantly, the blowback dissuades other boneheads from attempting to do the same thing for a long time. Such was the case with the famous government shutdown of 1995-96. I loved every minute of that one, and I loved this one too. Just wish it could have kept going a little longer, to provide maximum deterrent effect on anyone else trying to balance the federal budget on the backs of innocent federal employees.
exaaaaactly.
He should have held out. I mean,...why delay it anyway if you are going to cave to some illusion of fairness.
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