Someone Please Tell Me Why People Vote Against Their Own Best Interest!

2009 State Scorecard Summary of Health System Performance by www.commonwealthfund.org

Republicans say "Less Regulation is Needed"

 West Virginia (74%) and South Dakota (71%) is the best chance the Republicans have at gaining seats in the U.S. Senate on their way to getting the six seats they need to regain control of the Senate according to The Washington Post. How they can even put a percentage chance on whether the Republicans can win those seats this far out from the election is beyond the comprehension of this writer, and many others. Did the people already forget about the 300,000 people whose water was contaminated by Freedom Industries, an affiliate of Georgia-Pacific Chemical, a Koch Brothers company? Did they forget that House Speaker John Boehner immediately after the incident said "I think there are plenty of regulations in place"? Did they forget that the company almost immediately claimed bankruptcy protecting themselves from law suits and continued operating as if nothing happened?

Healthiest and Unhealthiest States - Forbes

Where are the Healthiest and Unhealthiest People in America?

Who has the Worst, or No, Health Insurance?

Red State Reality: Unhealthiest Residents, Worst Health Care
From: PERRspectives November 17, 2009

 Throughout their all-out campaign to stop health care reform, Republican leaders have relied on questionable forecasts from the Lewin Group, a subsidiary of insurer UnitedHealth Group. Now, another study funded by UnitedHealth has some unwelcome news for the GOP braintrust: the red states they represent are the unhealthiest in the nation. Following on the heels of the Commonwealth Fund's 2009 Scorecard of state health care system performance, the United Health Foundation's report is just the latest confirmation that health care is worst where Republicans poll best.

 Eight of the 10 bottom-ranked states are from the south, with Mississippi coming in dead last for the ninth consecutive year. Mississippi has a sky-high death rate from heart disease and high infant mortality. In general, residents of these states are more likely to be smokers or to be obese, the report found. They also have worse health insurance coverage, fewer physicians per capita and live in areas with high violent crime and more child poverty.

 So your in a state that has the unhealthiest people in the nation and your Representatives; Governors, Congressmen/women, and U.S. Senators, are lying to you to have you think "The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act" (Obamacare) which will expand Medicaid (at no cost to your state and only 10% of the cost after 3 years,) make insurance companies keep your children on your healthcare policies until they're 26, and force insurance companies to actually use 80% of the premiums they collect for patient claims rather than give themselves outrageous bonuses and salaries, is a bad thing. Why would you vote for these obstructive, greedy, all for corporations and the "ultra-rich, and not interested in your best interests in the least, politicians?

"Obama is a Socialist, His Government is Socialistic,"they Say

But if it weren't for the Social Programs that Exist Many Red States Would Be Bankrupt!

Red States on this Map Indicate States that are Taking More Money from the Federal Government than they Give in Taxes. by Ezra Klein

Although they constantly complain about the "Social Programs" and call President Obama the "President that wants to Give Stuff Away," the Red States are the ones benefiting from the programs. The TeaPublicans have again denied to expand the Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) even after they were given everything they asked for:

“We’ve given them everything they wanted. Paid for,” said Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, flashing his irritation at Republicans who blocked the bill.

 He said Democrats would keep pushing to extend the benefits, which expired at the end of last year, cutting off more than 1.3 million Americans. That number has since grown to more than 1.7 million. Read More of The New York Times article "Senate Fails to Pass 3-Month Extension of Jobless Aid"

 The first vote failed, 52 to 48, on a measure proposed by the Democratic leadership that would have extended benefits for 11 months. The extension would have been largely financed by continuing a 2 percent cut to Medicare health providers for an additional year, through 2024. The second vote, on the original bill, which would have extended benefits for three months at a cost of $6.4 billion, failed 55 to 45.

 So where are all the unemployed workers? In the "Blue" or "Democratic" states? Not quite!

Unemployment Rates by States - Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)

 Yet we have to wonder, will all those unemployed people in Republican states remember who wouldn't extend the Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) even after they got EVERYTHING they negotiated for?

Finally, Where is it Hardest to Escape From Poverty?

Escaping from Poverty by The Washington Post

 So how about if you are born into poverty, would you have a better chance in a Red State (Republican) or a Blue State (Democratic)? Are your U.S. Congressmen/women and U.S. Senators working to try to help your citizens living below the poverty line and the middle class? On this interactive map by The New York Times you can click on your location and see what chances your children have to escape poverty: In Climbing Income Ladder, Location Matters. Here are the Top Ten and the Bottom Ten cities/counties for upward mobility:

Upward Mobility in the 50 Biggest Metro Areas: The Top 10 and Bottom 10
	Rank		Odds of Reaching Top Fifth Starting from Bottom Fifth		Rank		Odds of Reaching Top Fifth Starting from Bottom Fifth
	1	San Jose, CA	12.9%		41	Cleveland, OH	5.1%
	2	San Francisco, CA	12.2%		42	St. Louis, MO	5.1%
	3	Washington DC, DC	11.0%		43	Raleigh, NC	5.0%
	4	Seattle, WA	10.9%		44	Jacksonville, FL	4.9%
	5	Salt Lake City, UT	10.8%		45	Columbus, OH	4.9%
	6	New York, NY	10.5%		46	Indianapolis, IN	4.9%
	7	Boston, MA	10.5%		47	Dayton, OH	4.9%
	8	San Diego, CA	10.4%		48	Atlanta, GA	4.5%
	9	Newark, NJ	10.2%		49	Milwaukee, WI	4.5%
	10	Manchester, NH	10.0%		50	Charlotte, NC	4.4%

 

Anyone Want to Explain Why People in Red States are Voting Republican or Even Worse, for Tea Party Members?

 I know one reason we have so many low-information voters, and it's not all their fault. If you were born and put into a blue room until you were 5 years old, and the whole time your parents told you the color of the walls was green, what would you say the color was when someone showed you something blue? That's the effect on many people in states where outside money, and dark money (the Koch Brothers favorite,) is used to get Tea Party members, and far right-wing candidates, elected. Probably the biggest problem in this country is the effect of the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court on June 21, 2010 when they sided with Citizens United which removed limits on corporations, unions, and organizations making campaign contributions. More than 80% of Americans believe that the Citizens United decision has caused far more corruption in our elections and in our politicians than ever before. We must remove money in politics because "Money is Not Speech" and "Corporations are Not People."

Deregulation: The Republican/Tea Party members have blocked most of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The February 3, 2013 Monthly Report showing the progress of the law signed by President Obama July 21, 2010.

• In the past month, no rulemaking requirement deadlines passed or were met with finalized rules, and no new rules were proposed that would meet rulemaking requirements.
• As of February 3, 2014, a total of 280 Dodd-Frank rulemaking requirement deadlines have passed. Of these 280 passed deadlines, 132 (47.1%) have been missed and 148 (52.9%) have been met with finalized rules.
• In addition, 201 (50.5%) of the 398 total required rulemakings have been finalized, while 110 (27.6%) rulemaking requirements have not yet been proposed.

 This law was passed to put back regulations that were removed by President George W. Bush and allowed Wall Street banks and institutions to almost collapse the world economy. But what did certainly is to make people lose their homes with mortgages that were never meant to be successful, wiped out Americans retirement funds through their 401k's, took America's middle net worth, and walked away with literally hundreds of billions  (yes, billions with a "B") of dollars and no jail time. The Republicans have fought putting back those regulations that wouldn't allow banks and institutions to become "Too Big To Fail" (TBTF) and cause the damage they did, laws that were in place since the 1920's.

Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare): This one truly makes me think that either the Tea Party members and Republicans are magicians or the money in politics is working wonderfully for the ultra-rich and the corporations. How do you convince the unhealthiest people in the nation, with the worst healthcare systems in place, and people with no health insurance at all, that they don't need healthcare? That's magical!

Unemployment: They asked for 3 things, the least not being that the $6B to cover the extension of Emergency Unemployment Compensation for 3 months be covered with cuts somewhere else and all three were met. As you saw earlier in the article the bills failed in the Senate. By the way, one of the favorite sayings of the Republican Party is "We Support the Troops," but, they cut food stamps, don't extend unemployment benefits, and let the veteran's disability claims lay idle for 18 months before they are even looked at, many of these veterans are suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD,) and 22 American veterans are committing suicide daily. What, or whose,  Troops are they supporting?

Unemployed Veterans by www hiringourheroes org

Poverty:  You saw above how hard it is to grow out of poverty above. Use the link for the interactive map that allows you to click on where you live to see exactly what your children's chances are. Ask yourself, how well are your politicians fighting for the middle class and the poor? Then vote for the people who are fighting for you.

How the Heck Can Women Vote Republican?

 I didn't even get a chance to start to discuss the "War on Women" that the TeaPublicans and Republicans have on women. There's so much there that I'll have to do a post just on that topic. I'll just say "How could you vote for a party whose members pass laws that will force women who are requesting an abortion, to get raped with a "Trans-Vaginal Ultrasound" probe that NO medical doctor has deemed necessary, or prudent?

Original meme by www.Facebook.com/StoptheObstructionistTeaParty and www.Medic3569.wordpress.com

So get out there and tell everyone you can that just because they see a TV commercial, a news report (the ultra-rich, and corporations own the TV stations,) especially a Faux (Fox or False) News broadcast, don't believe a single source! Also, and most importantly, use the page button ("Find/Track Politicians, Bills and Voting Records") under the title of this blog to use one of the sites provided to find and contact your politicians to get the U.S. Congress to overturn Citizens United and get money out of politics and give control of our elections back to the people! A good link to use for nation politicians is GovTrack.gov .

What is the Republicans/TeaPuplicans Plan for Jobs Since they are Blocking Every Jobs Bill the President Endorses?

Similar to Healthcare - We don't Have a Plan; But We'll Block Any Plan You Have For Jobs Mr. President

Bobblehead S. E. Cupp, on CNN's Crossfire this week, had Former Labor Secretary, (under President Clinton,) Robert Reich (who helped create a net 22 million job increase) and Governor Tim Pawlenty. and what she had was Republican talking points, typical of right-wing media and talking heads. She kept spewing prepared Republican/Teapublican talking points, not listening, or even hearing what her guests were saying. What is the Republican's plan for creating jobs? They don't know, but they know their willing to obstruct any ideas the President has, sound familiar? What's their plan for healthcare for 40 million Americans that didn't have it, and/or couldn't afford it? OH! That's right, they don't have one, but they spent taxpayer money to the tune of over $60M voting 48 times to repeal the Affordable Care Act.  Here's just a snippet from the conversation on CNN's Crossfire where Governor Pawlenty says what he thinks business is saying, and what Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich said to set him straight:
   
PAWLENTY: "Guess what? There's a consistent answer from those folks about what they want. And they basically say to government, do things to encourage me, not discourage me. Make the load lighter, not heavier. And that includes things like taxation, like energy policy, like health-care policy and more. But they're basically saying don't do things to make my life more difficult, more expensive, more bureaucratic, more inefficient."
CUTTER: "Well, Governor..."
REICH: "Actually, it's..."
CUTTER: "Go ahead."
REICH: "Stephanie, I'm sorry to interrupt you, but I just want to say that -- that I'm very proud to be part of an administration that presided over the creation of 22 million net new jobs. That was the Clinton administration."

 See the interview from CNN's Crossfire Here

Original meme by www.Facebook.com/StoptheObstructionistTeaParty and www.Medic3569.blogspot.com

What Does Raising the Minimum Wage Do? Help or Hurt Job Creation?

Republicans and Tea Party members say that government wants to force employers to raise wages, raise taxes on "top job creators," (which we absolutely know has been proven not to be true that the "trickle down theory" by cutting taxes on the rich creates jobs,) and force employers to cut-off hiring at 50 employees to avoid the Affordable Care Act mandates, is not a recipe for creating jobs. Robert Reich speaking on raising the minimum wage says: "Raising the minimum wage, we've been raising the minimum wage in this country since 1935. Raising the minimum wage is good for the country. It puts more money in the pockets of people. Sixty-five percent of Americans want to raise the minimum wage. Most minimum- wage workers these days are not teenagers. They are breadwinners. If you help them, you are helping the economy overall."

"And a lot of employers will benefit from a higher minimum wage. We know empirical studies show that. This is not a matter of government planning. This is a matter of doing what we have done in this country -- in fact, if we had a minimum wage today that was as high as it was in 1968, adjusted for inflation, it would be $10.40 an hour. And if you add in productivity improvements, minimum wage actually would be $15 an hour."

 A large swath of economists agree, raising the minimum wage is a good idea. 

 In a letter released Tuesday, January 14, 2014 through the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank, 75 economists, including seven Nobel Laureates, argue that the government should hike the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 an hour by 2016 and then peg future increases to inflation. A proposal from Senate Democrats, backed by President Obama, to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour is currently stalled in Congress. Read More from The Huffington Post. Economist Joseph Stiglitz and Larry Summers, argue that the "weight" of the evidence indicates past minimum wage hikes haven’t hurt the job market.  

 "Research suggests that a minimum-wage increase could have a small stimulative effect on the economy as low-wage workers spend their additional earnings, raising demand and job growth, and providing some help on the jobs front."

Original meme by www.Facebook.com/StoptheObstructionistTeaParty and www.Medic3569.blogspot.com

 Republicans Say President Holding Up  "All There Jobs Bills"

 The problem with that statement is that they don't have ANY jobs bills. So how do they get around that? Call every bill a "Jobs Bill." On Speaker John Boehner's Blog page he says that the White House is "pivoting" back to jobs and the House doesn't have to pivot because they have always been about jobs. He offers a list of "Jobs Bills," the problem? He lists numerous bills, but in the description of the bills offers misleading or straight out false information. He lists bills that favor the oil & gas industry by more deregulation (remember, after 300,000 people in West Virginia had their drinking water contaminated by a Koch Brothers affiliated chemical company he said "there are plenty of regulations in effect.") and bills that help the ultra-rich with more tax relief, etc., but none of the bills actually create a significant number of jobs. Check the Speaker's page and then check the actual bills at www.GovTrack.us.

But for Boehner, the best course of action is to cut off those struggling most, while asking the Senate to pass the “jobs bills” already approved by the House.

What “jobs bills”? As it turns out, Boehner has decided that every time House Republicans pass a bill that advances House Republican priorities, the party gets to label that a “jobs bill.” The GOP approved more oil drilling? That’s a “jobs bill.” The GOP voted to take away health care benefits from millions of Americans? That’s a “jobs bill,” too. The GOP disapproves of clean-air regulations? “Jobs bill.” The GOP wants more “transparency” in federal spending? “Jobs bill.” Republicans cut food stamps? “Jobs bill.”

I’m not exaggerating in the slightest; this is all from the list of “jobs bills” the Speaker of the House has pulled together and presented to the public. How many actual jobs would be created if these bills became law? No one knows because Republicans never submitted them for independent economic scrutiny, but GOP leaders are confident the answer is, at a minimum, some.

Photo by legalinsurrection.com

  What the Republicans "Say" and "Do" are Different, as Usual

Republicans came out this year saying they have a "Jobs Agenda," and it's not just the same old "cut taxes to the rich job creators" and "remove all those pesky regulations that tie the hands of industry." 

Nationwide, many our lifeline systems are approaching a different kind of catastrophe. One trillion dollars is the price tag on the U.S. infrastructure deficit, an issue President Obama knows well.

“We must rebuild our infrastructure and find new and clean sources of energy,” Obama said.
Quietly and consistently, infrastructure is emerging as one of the three key elements of Obama’s clarion call to returning to the domestic agenda.

Second only to jobs—above even energy—infrastructure, that critical and unsexy topic has come to the fore of the president’s mind and message.

Back in June, 2011 The U.S. Conference of Mayors, put forward a resolution to Congress that the $126 billion dollars going annually to pay for America’s wars abroad be spent at home instead.

The mayors set an agenda that mirrored the presidents: jobs, sustainable energy, and rebuilding America—roads, dams, water and sewer systems, among others.

“That we would build bridges in Baghdad and Kandahar and not Baltimore and Kansas City, absolutely boggles the mind,” L.A.’s flamboyant and outspoken Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said. Read More from The Daily Beast June 23, 2011 article.

Michael Tomasky in an article The GOP's "Jobs" Hypocrisy for The Daily Beast on January 3, 2014 writes about a piece by Michael R. Strain of National Affairs "A Jobs Agenda for the Right" whereas Michael makes some suggestions to the Republicans. It includes, ready? wait for it, INFRASTRUCTURE! Where did we hear that before? One particular part of Michael's work is this: 

 "This employment crisis is one of the most important and immediate social and economic problems facing the country today, and none of our elected leaders can afford to ignore it. Yet both parties are more or less doing just that. The Democrats talk about jobs policies, but their approach to the problem — with its emphasis on massive short-term fiscal stimulus and inefficient public spending — has proven neither popular nor (at least in the form attempted at the beginning of the Obama years) up to the challenge. It consists of the timeworn economic mantras of the left and is not equipped to address the problems we now have.

 Republicans are, if anything, worse off. They often refuse to even acknowledge the problem, or to acknowledge the fact that it requires ambitious policy solutions. They, too, mostly repeat familiar formulas from their party's glory days which offer proposals that do not seem well connected to today's economic realities. Some of their ideas — fostering a more stable business climate and financing lower tax rates by shrinking a few tax loopholes, for example — could help, but they are not nearly adequate for the challenge America confronts. To offer the public a plausible agenda for a true recovery of the labor market, Republicans will have to dig deeper."

  

 He continued "Anyone who has driven on a highway in Missouri or has taken an escalator in a Washington, D.C., Metro station knows that the United States could use some infrastructure investment. And expanding public-transportation options from poor neighborhoods to commercial centers could increase economic mobility and the incomes of the poor — a goal conservatives should certainly support. Today's low interest rates only increase the desirability of a multi-year program of high-social-value infrastructure spending.

 The 2009 stimulus bill failed to direct funds effectively to such projects, but that does not mean that infrastructure spending, if properly conceived and directed, cannot do a great deal of good. And, of course, to ensure that federal debt is on a stable trajectory, any large increase in spending should be coupled with restraints on the future path of middle-class entitlement spending and a reining in of tax expenditures.

 Carefully targeted infrastructure spending should also be coupled with a more pro-growth monetary policy. Monetary policy surely offers the best way to boost aggregate demand in the short term. By keeping the federal funds rate at zero and pursuing its long-term asset purchase program (known as quantitative easing or QE), the Federal Reserve has done much to support the economy during the Great Recession. But growth is still slow and the labor market is still very weak. Is there more the Fed could do?"

 Back to Michael Tomasky "UM, O.K. There are people who’ve been trying to do just that. And not only Barack Obama. John Kerry led this effort in the Senate, and he was joined by Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison (who’s since retired). Their attempts to fund a modest infrastructure bank were supported by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. But it could never get anywhere because of rock-solid GOP opposition. Does Strain not even know this? Or is he pretending it never existed so he doesn’t have to deal with the political reality of Republican obduracy?

I think, of course, it’s the latter, and there’s further evidence for my guess in the way Strain talks about recent history. The 2009 stimulus was not a failure in infrastructure terms at all (has he read Michael Grunwald?). But even if you believe it was an infrastructure failure, or have to say so for political reasons, should you not acknowledge in fairness that it was Democrats and liberals who wanted it to have more infrastructure spending, and that nearly 40 percent of bill took the form of tax cuts because that’s what Republicans demanded (before they decided en masse to vote against it anyway)?"

Meme by waliberals.org

President Obama's Proposed Jobs Bills

First there's  The American Jobs Act which calls for:

1. TAX CUTS TO HELP AMERICA’S SMALL BUSINESSES HIRE AND GROW.

2. PUTTING WORKERS BACK ON THE JOB WHILE REBUILDING AND MODERNIZING

    AMERICA.

3. PATHWAYS BACK TO WORK FOR AMERICANS LOOKING FOR JOBS.

4. TAX RELIEF FOR EVERY AMERICAN WORKER AND FAMILY.

5. FULLY PAID FOR AS PART OF THE PRESIDENT’S LONG-TERM DEFICIT REDUCTION

    PLAN. 

Learn more at www.WHITEHOUSE.gov

Photo by www.whitehouse.gov

 80% of our infrastructure is deemed "obsolete" or "in need of immediate repair." Infrastructure bills in the past have gone through the House and Senate with ease, but that's before the day after our current President's first inauguration where Senator Mitch McConnell laid out the 1st priority of the Republican Party, which was to "make the President a one-term President." That was their first priority, not the wars, not the great recession created by President George W. Bush, who came into office with a $500M surplus and left with a $10B deficit, with two unpaid wars going on, one of which President Bush out right lied about to get us into. Or the unpaid "Prescription Drug Bill" that cost us over $720B that they said would only cost us $320B and gave drug companies a windfall by not allowing Medicare and Medicaid to negoiate the prices of prescription drugs, not the 700,000 jobs per month being lost when President Obama took office, no, first priority was to make the President a one-term President. The Republican Party then started to have other problems, the ultra-rich backed Tea Party started to challenge Conservatives and blocked anything that didn't fit into their absurd agenda. The Republican Party became broken and produced the "Worse Productive Congress in the History of the United States," the 113th Congress. Obstruction was to put it lightly. Closing down the government to try to repeal The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare,) after already spending $59M to have 47 votes to repeal the law may have been the beginning of the fall of the Tea Party, but we'll just have to hope and see in the 2014 elections. House Speaker John Boehner finally stood up to some of the "groups" like Freedom Works, The Club for Growth, and Heritage Action, when the House passed the Ryan-Murray budget. But came right back and said there was no way they were going to raise the minimum wage, extend the Emergency Unemployment Compensation, and said, after Freedom Industries, a chemical company affiliated with the Koch Brothers, contaminated the drinking water for over 300,000 people in West Virginia, that "there are plenty of regulations in place."

 We need jobs, not deregulation, not blocking of the Dodd-Frank Financial Reform bill, not Voter ID Laws, not blocking raising the Minimum Wage, not cutting Food Stamps by $40B, not easier permitting processes for drilling and Fracking, not a Keystone XL pipeline that will bring tar sands oil through our country only to go to a refinery in the Gulf owned by a Saudi Arabian oil company and Shell oil, to be exported to China and other nations, that will raise gas prices 25-40 a gallon here in the U.S., not stalling immigration legislation, not spending more than $70B of taxpayer money voting to repeal the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare,) not giving $154B in tax subsidies to corporations like we did last year, WE NEED JOBS!

Senate Fails To Move Emergency Unemployment Compensation Forward 55-45, but Republican Constituents are Catching On that their Representatives Don't Care About Them

 Senate Republicans Move the Goal Posts and Deny 1.3 Million Americans Extended Unemployment Compensation, But Constituents are Starting to Realize It

Chart by www.cbpp.org

Well, the Senate failed to move the Emergency Unemployment Compensation bill forward because they couldn't get Republicans to vote for helping 1.3 million Americans in dire need of help.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has struggled to attract Republican votes as the GOP – still fuming about a rules change he pushed that diminishes their filibuster power – moved the goalposts on what it would take for GOP lawmakers to support an extension of the program.

Two procedural votes on different variations on an extension failed Tuesday afternoon, sending lawmakers back the drawing table.

 How can Republicans say they give an iota about Americans that are struggling?  At first, Senate Republicans said they would not support the extended benefits if it were not paid for. Then, after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid rounded up Democratic AND Republican proposals on how they would pay for an extension for varying lengths of time, the Republicans starting complaining about not being able to offer amendments to the legislation, therefore "moving the goalposts."

 Reid proposed a number of deals that would allow the Republicans to make amendments with 60 votes, as long as final passage of the bill would require only a majority of 51 votes. Minority leader Mitch McConnell rejected them immediately. The Republicans want a system where the minority of the senate that opposes unemployment insurance benefits gets both an amendment process where they can offer these poison pill amendments and then the minority of the Senate that opposes the bill can still kill the bill.”

 It outrages me that the Republicans/TeaPublicans really don't care what real people are going through so they can win political points. They don't have to worry about where their next meal, next tank of oil to heat there home, or tank of gas is coming from.

Republican Constituents Starting to Realize Their Politicians Don't Really Care About Them

 The PBS NewsHour.org reports that "Hardly a liberal bastion, El Paso County, in Colorado, has the largest number of people in the state who lost unemployment benefits, and many aren't happy about it. Plenty of Republicans, too, depend on jobless aid that Republicans in Congress are hesitant to prolong. The ideological argument for standing against an extension of benefits -- that the aid can ultimately make it harder to find work -- meets a more complex reality where people live.

 Democrats propose to extend the emergency benefits for people who have been or are about to be out of work for more than six months; Republicans are less inclined to take that step, particularly if it means the government borrows more money. The paralysis led to the expiration of benefits for 1.3 million long-term unemployed on Dec. 28. Lawmakers are still working on a compromise."

Read More

Republicans Need to Get in Touch With the People, and Reality

 The  TeaPublican run Republican Party needs to get in touch with reality. They don't understand that the 1.3 million Americans who have now received their last unemployment check are in desperate need of assistance. On average, the $237.00 a week was allowing those families just barely enough to scrape by, and now they've taken that away. You can't tell me that with corporate subsidies reaching $154B last year that they can't find the $6B it would take to extend the benefits that these families so desperately need. Wake up people, this is real, not a game. How far can people be pushed to their limit? What happens now, when the recipients of those benefits can't put anymore food on the table, gas in the car? And no, their not what a number of Republicans have said this week, lazy!

Please contact your Senators through GovTrack.us and tell them to stop playing games with peoples lives, they will hit their limit, it's not right.

S 1845 - The Emergency Unemployment Compensation Act was Placed on the Senate Schedule January 4, 2014

S 1845 - The Emergency Unemployment Compensation Act Was Placed on the Senate Schedule January 4, 2014 for the Next Legislative Day - Contact YOUR Senators Office

Cartoon by unemployedworkers.org

The S 1845 Emergency Unemployment Compensation Act was placed on the Senate schedule on January 4, 2014 to be acted upon on the very next legislative day. GovTrack.us says it has a 14% chance of being enacted. The bill has 21 Co-Sponsors. Only 23% of bills that made it past committee in 2011–2013 were enacted. That's not saying much because we've had an obstructionist party blocking all legislation that our current President was is favor of. See below for step-by-step instructions on finding and calling your U.S. Senators (with screenshots) and a link to track the bill and your Representatives.

Photo by www.westernjournalism.com

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid Proposes Expanding Unemployment Benefits - Not Just Extending Them

In a Washington Post blog,  The Plum Line - Greg Sargent's take from a Liberal Prospective, article Reid: Let's Not Just Extend Unemployment. Let's Expand it. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid proposed expanding Emergency Unemployment Benefits, not just extending them.


The short version of this is that under the current proposal to extend the Emergency Unemployment Compensation program, the overall program would be extended three months. But that doesn’t mean all people on unemployment insurance get three months more; their duration is dictated by how much they’ve already received, and how long the duration of those in their tier are supposed to last. Each tier — there are four of them — is dictated by the unemployment rate in their states.

What Reid is proposing is to change the structure of the program, so that those in states with a high unemployment rate – but one that’s not high enough to qualify for the maximum of 73 weeks, the top tier – would get the maximum length. In other words, the duration of benefits would last longer for more people.
Reid told the Las Vegas Sun that he won’t push for this restructuring of the program until the three month extension is secured (which may or may not happen). And obviously, this is going to be a huge lift, given that even the temporary extension’s passage is in doubt.

Graph by www.dailykos.com

What Exactly is Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC)?

EUC is a 100% federally funded program that provides benefits to individuals who have exhausted regular state benefits. The EUC program was created on June 30, 2008, and has been modified several times. Most recently, the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (P.L. 112-240) extended the expiration date of the EUC program to January 1, 2014.These benefits DO NOT apply to provide additional weeks of benefits to individuals who had already exhausted all entitlements under previous law.

Photo by inhabitat.com

President Obama Says He Will Sign 3-Month Extension of Unemployment Benefits

In a CBS News post by Jake Miller Unemployment Benefits' Expiration "Just Plain Cruel" a video of President Barack Obama shows him saying he would sign a 3-month extension bill for EUC. He urges Congress to pass he bill. The President says that these benefits are vital to a mother trying to feed her children while she's looking for work, or a father who needs help paying the rent while he's learning the skills to get a better job.

 In another article by Greg Sargent Republicans Could Face Serious Backlash Over Unemployment Benefit Expiration he examines whether or not there will be a backlash on Republicans for refusing to extend the EUC before going home for the holidays, and continuing to be stingy.

Public Policy Polling (PPP) took a look at four Republican-occupied swing districts in the House, as well as the district of House Speaker John Boehner. Bipartisan majorities of voters in each district supported extending long-term unemployment benefits:

• In California’s 31st district, currently held by Rep. Gary Miller, 68 percent of voters want the benefits continued and 28 percent support ending them. Republicans support an extension 54-41.
• In Colorado’s 6th district, held by Rep. Mike Coffman, voters want the benefits extended by a 63-33 margin, with a narrow plurality of Republicans (48 percent) in favor.
• Rep. Dan Benishek will face voters in Michigan’s 1st district who heavily support an extension, by a 66-29 percent margin, including 60 percent of Republicans.
• In Illinois’s 13th district there is also a 66-29 percent split in favor of extending benefits, with 53 percent of Republicans in favor. The seat is currently held by Rep. Rodney Davis.

 Even in Boehner’s home district, one finds similar numbers: Sixty-three percent of voters want the fund extended and 34 percent do not, including a majority (52 percent) of Republican voters.
A common rejoinder to such polling data is that perhaps voters will not prioritize the issue when casting a ballot next fall — but PPP also asked if a failure to extend long-term unemployment benefits would make voters less likely to reelect the incumbent. In each district the answer was yes.

by www.americanprogress.org

The History of Unemployment Compensation

The Social Security Act of 1935 (Public Law 74-271) created the Federal-State Unemployment Compensation (UC) Program. The program has two main objectives: (1) to provide temporary and partial wage replacement to involuntarily unemployed workers who were recently employed; and (2) to help stabilize the economy during recessions. The U.S. Department of Labor oversees the system, but each State administers its own program. Because Federal law defines the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands as States for the purposes of UC, there are 53 State programs.

photo by www.pcmech.com

 Get Involved For A Better America

 Use GovTrack to Call Your U.S. Senators (2):

1) Click on this link (I've already set it up to go right to the Senate bill "S 1845": S 1845

You will see this:

 

Click on "Call Congress"

You will see two buttons: "I Support S 1845" and "I Do Not Support S 1845" (Choose one) 

NOTE: If you have never registered with GovTrack.gov you will be asked to register, it is a very simple process, follow the prompts. After you register and have chosen whether or not to support the bill, 

You will see this:

It will automatically have your two U.S. Senators, choose what to do with the first one:

1) Enter your phone number and GovTrack will IMMEDIATELY call you at that number and then connect you to that Senators office. There is a "Call Script" to follow if you'd like.

2) GovTrack gives you the direct phone number for that Senators office for you to place the call yourself.

3) Once you've completed the first call, click on the "Call (your second Senator's name) button and you will place a call to your second Senator the same as you did the first.

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