Republicans Obstruct Unemployment Benefits for Families
Posted by on 07-19-10
- Our nation has a responsibility to offer emergency aid to the many Americans who have lost their job through no fault of their own during this recession, who are struggling to make ends meet and to support their families, and who are continually looking for work. That is why it is so important that Congress pass the unemployment insurance extension that will once again come up for a vote in the Senate tomorrow.
- Unemployed Americans are suffering as a result of ongoing Republican obstructionism during this difficult economic time. Republicans have already prevented the unemployment insurance extension from moving forward three separate times – even though our country has a long history of supporting the unemployed under Democratic and Republican Administrations alike. In fact, during the last Administration, Republicans voted to extend emergency unemployment benefits a number of times.
- As a result of Republicans’ obstructionism, 2.5 million Americans to date have lost their unemployment benefits – and hundreds of thousands more are affected every week this critical legislation is delayed.
- The Republicans who trumpeted the failed policies that turned a record national surplus into a massive national deficit, and who saw no problem with spending hundreds of billions of dollars on tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans, have no philosophical ground to stand on in their effort to prevent relief from reaching the middle-class Americans who need it most.
- Senate Republicans continue to deny hard-working Americans critical unemployment aid because they maintain the misguided belief that emergency relief will in some way discourage individuals from seeking a new job. But that belief is more a reflection of Republicans’ lack of faith in the American people than one of reality. Americans aren’t looking for a hand-out. They desperately want a job, but despite their efforts have been unable to find them, and as a result are dependent on unemployment benefits to help them make it through these tough times.
- Tomorrow, Republicans will have the chance to vote on this critical issue once again. President Obama encourages both Democrats and Republicans in the Senate to seize that opportunity to do what’s right not for just their Party or their electoral chances, but for the American middle class. It’s time Republicans stopped holding Americans’ hostage to their political strategizing and stopped blocking emergency relief for the Americans who need it most.
