Lawmakers playing political chicken with unemployment extension

Another week seems to be passing us by.

At the end of this week, the population of Arlington TX will be without UI Benefits. Each week roughly another city the size of Arlington TX will fall off the rolls for UI.

By the time Congress gets back from it’s July break, roughly the population of Houston TX will be without benefits.

This argument is over the 60% of pay that the unemployed are now living off of. That works out to an average of 200-300 dollars per week for the unemployed to live on. All of this is being held up by our elected officials that make roughly $3400 per week of taxpayer funded income. This is base pay, and does not include all those sweet little perks they get, like free health care nor the sweetheart deal they have for retirement.. I would submit that those that serve in the senate are millionaires in their own right and don’t need their paychecks like the unemployed do.

How can a group of people making so much money even begin to comprehend what someone living on a few hundred a week is going through? How can they represent those of us that have worked for so long and so hard but now we have to watch as everyone else is helped, with free needles, free food, free cell phones, but those of us that have paid into the system for so many years are thrown under the bus. All for political gain. On both sides.

I am disgusted.

Amen!

I lost my unemployment coverage last week. I look for a job everyday. Anyone hiring 50 year old assistants?

In case any Republican are worried, I did spend 9 hours looking for jobs today. I hope it is okay if I took a few minutes to read this news article.

I worked without interruption from 1979 – 2009, and I am not lazy.

I have been unemployed since Nov 2008. I have earnestly given every effort to find a job in this economy. I am currently drawing unemployment from the state since my state isn’t in the 99 weeks category. My benefits have been used to pay my bills and I’m a month and a half from paying my car note off. I do not wish for it to be repossessed. I am going beyond the 3 job search requirement and giving an effort of 7-10 job searches per week. I finally have a lead on a job through a friend. I don’t want my car to be taken away when I’m so close to paying it off. Senators please use your heads and hearts to realize that many of the unemployed are literally struggling out here. Please pass this bill, not to look good towards anyone’s political party, but for the decency one should have for their fellow Americans!

Bubba: This about AMERICANS HELPING AMERICANS NOT WHAT PARTY YOU ARE!!! Do you think the troops fighting the wars right now,ask each other what party they are before they would help each other when under attack!!!! AMERICANS HELP AMERICANS AND THAT IS HOW IT SHOULD BE!!!!! We all look for work and try hard to find it,but now we are to be homeless? Can we live with the Republicans ,because our taxes out of unemployment have been paying thair wages? They like BIG BUSINESS so when 10 million AMERICANS are homeless we will become BIG BUSINESS and then they may listen!!

You guys are lazy – period – you can’t get job after 26 weeks (six months)? You are not trying hard enough whatever the economy. I got an idea – How about looking for a job 24 hours a day 7 days a week until you get one or you don’t eat. Bet there would be a 99% employment rate if that was the case.

If you people wanted a good economy with plenty of jobs you shouldn’t have elected Obama. Lessons learned.

Steve 10: HOW DO REPUBLICANS DO THEIR MATH? Estimate that by 7/10/10 2 million Americans will lose unemployment benefits. DO THE MATH!!!! 1) Avg.unemployment check in USA is $300 per week,some more, some less. $300×2 million=$600 million not going into the economy per week!! 2) $300×10%=$30 per week in FED.TAXES. $30×2 million=$60 million not collected in FED.TAXES per week. 3) This does not include state taxes we pay. RESULT: HOMELESS FAMILIES,FORCLOSURES,BANKRUPTCY,NO SALES,MORE LAYOFFS,ETC. WHAT A DEAL THE REPUBLICANS ARE OFFERING!!!!!

People are not lazy. There is not enough jobs to go around and in some job ads the following has been posted.

Do not apply if you are not employed currently. They don’t even want the unemployed. How sick is that. All you folks that have jobs and are giving the unemployed grief should shut up. Unless you are in this position,you have no idea. And, if you are working, you hopefully, are helping your unemployed friends and neighbors in need.

I’ve worked for the last 35 yrs.In that span I,ve collected about 4 weeks of unemployment but payed into the fund all along.I,m not lazy.I,ve been laid off since OCT. I urge everybody to hold our politicians responsible.The republicans have done everything they can to stop progress for polital gain.Unfortunatly many Americans buy into the lies.Get active and lets get rid of these greedy idiots like Ensign(NV)republican@Nelson(NEB)democrat,traitor to the middle class!!!!!!!!!

Sorry to hear so many people are depended on the house and senate to pass this extension bill for unemployment. I am waiting myself and having a hard time as well. But I have realized do they care? Absoultley not.
They could have stayed before leaving for their little vacations.They didn’t deserve a vacation anywway. Could have and should have stayed day and night as long as it took to get it passed. Remember how they said and Pelosi was the speaker to tell us all how they will stay day and night to slip that healthcare bill through.This was during the holidays. And most people voted against it. Pelosi should have demanded them to stay day and night until it was passed. And which this to us all I’m sure much more important than that horrible healthcare bill.So there is your answer to whether they care about people being unemployed.Afraid the answer is no.
Actually the President should have demaned them all to stay and make sure this was passed before leaving. But again he did nothing.
Then Pelosi gets on tv and says how she couldn’t believe the house and senate left. Well so did she??????????
Janie

We could continue to enumerate tons and tons of reasons why its mathmatically reasonable to pass th unemployment bill but what we should consider which is more important than the why is the what if. What if they do not pass the unemployment extension what will happen. I have the answer. The growing 2 million people who are current unemployed if not currently on drugs will turn to drugs but more importantly crime; not to necessarily feed the drug habit but to survive in a crumbling economy. No jobs equal high crime who cares what side you are on its already been proven look at the history books. The crime in America will shoot through the roof but criminals will be more evolved and more ruthless because the conditions of the economy will make the free world less comfortable than the jail systems; this will make criminals ruthless because they will have nothing to loose. You will have 2 million plus people committing crime not caring if they go to jail because in jail they will be able to eat, sleep, shelter, and be social. Do not forget about the victims who will fall to the hands of the 2 million ruthless criminals. I will tell you who it will not be. I will not be the Senate. It will not be any Congress members. It will not be Obama. It will be you fools who voted the real criminals in (Republican and Democrats) and when we, the core of America, are victims feeding off the blood of helpless Americans to get by then you will see how foolish we have been all of these years to believe their socialist corporate money machines would work!

When we went to two wars did all the senates asked themselves pay- as – you- go “SPECIAL (GOP) comment”. In this Country We buy Now ,then pay later everything ,house, car,credict card, wars, aid to other country and Etc.

To rdawg, I am not going to dignify what you are saying. I have a master degree and double licensure in mental health and AODA counseling. I have worked with those who have suffered mentally due to job loss and now because of multiple back surgeries have found myself jobless because I was left behind due to expired leave benefits. I look for all kinds of jobs and I have been told many, many times I am overqualified. Employers also look at resume and say that I will leave the job right away to get a job I am qualified for. We are not all lazy, drug taking people. If people like rdawg think we sit around all day eagerly waiting for a paultry 300 then he is as crazy as he seems as well as completely void of compassion. People talk about what could happen in most chaotic form (crime, drug use, etc) if this continues but let’s also think of the mental health, suicide, and abuses that will occur. The government is committing as much child abuse and emotional abuse as any parent could do. Let’s all stand together as Americans rather than finger point or judge. I never right on these blogs but when I see comments like I did above I am shocked that one person would be so cruel. We need to increase jobs, and take care of our own before we abandon each other. I cashed in 401k already and you know I truly worry about others more than myself because we need to be empathetic to all not just feel for ourselves because we are all hurting. I sit and listen to people complain about their jobs and I can’t fathom how they can do that when they have jobs. To the senator who beyond recognition suggested drug tests to keep unemployment (look it up it’s true) give me a cup and after you test it and see it is positive take the rest of mine and everyone elses and let those with jobs, like the government workers, watch it get dumped on us as they complain about their lives because as the saying goes it is better to be pissed off than pissed upon which metaphorically we are being every day as we lose everything. rdawg please try to find some compassion in your heart because if you can’t you must bleed different than the rest of us. We all bleed the same and are all in this together and rdawg you could be next to be jobless. i certainly didn’t think I’d ever be here.

Yeh I said positive on the drug test because I am on medication that keeps me from being curled up in a chair on a daily basis as I sit with a spinal cord stimulator implanted on my spine. I don’t want to spend tax payer dollars permanently for disability so not all of us are looking for permanent paycheck unless it is one that will mean meaningful and gainful work. I will never look at this site again so say what you will about me people like rdawg but I hope all of you know that I support all of us and hope you all have better days.