Filed under: News, Politics, President Obama
This time, the odor is coming from Washington, where Democrats have compromised with Republicans to extend tax cuts for the wealthy in order to get jobless benefits extended.
The compromise came after Democrats tried and failed to pass a bill that extended Bush-era tax cuts for the middle class but let them lapse for the wealthy. Democrats also needed help to extend jobless benefits.
The AP writes:
Negotiations between the Obama administration and a bipartisan group of lawmakers centered on a two-year extension of current rates.At the same time, a jump in the unemployment rate to 9.8 percent is putting pressure on Republicans to accede to President Barack Obama's demand that Congress extend unemployment insurance for a year. GOP congressional leaders had opposed an extension of benefits without cuts elsewhere in the federal budget.
"I think most folks believe the recipe would include at least an extension of unemployment benefits for those who are unemployed and an extension of all of the tax rates for all Americans for some period of time," said Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona, the Senate's Republican negotiator in the talks.
Central to the deal, White House officials and Democrats said, is an extension of unemployment benefits. "Without unemployment benefits being extended, personally, this is a nonstarter," said Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the second-ranking member of the Senate Democratic leadership.
This debate highlights the failures of the Democratic party while also showing how out of touch the Republican party is with the needs of regular Americans.
Many of these people have been steadily looking for jobs that simply are not there. Entire industries are being phased out and adults are competing with kids for jobs at McDonald's.
Families are losing their homes and the prospects for recovery grow more grim every day. Unemployment figures are rising.
The AP writes:
About 2 million unemployed workers will run out of benefits this month if they are not renewed, and the administration estimates 7 million will be affected if the payments are not extended for a year.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell on Sunday said discussions are still under way on a variety of unresolved issues.The White House wants to include renewal of several other tax provisions that are expiring. These were initially included in the 2009 economic stimulus bill and include a tax credit for lower- and middle-class wage earners, even if they don't make enough to pay federal income taxes, breaks to offset college tuition and breaks for companies that hire the unemployed.
Any deal would require the approval of the House and Senate, and the president's signature. Obama told Democratic congressional leaders Saturday that he would oppose any extension of tax rates that did not include jobless benefits and other assistance his administration was seeking.
Democrats have failed to channel that anger to force Republicans to address this disparity. They have failed to point out that despite Republican obessesion over our massive deficit, which Republicans helped to create with tax cuts for the wealthy, our debt only grows with the continuation of those cuts. We need that money to spur jobs and to help people in desperate need of assistance.
Despite what Republicans say, most Americans on unemployment are not lazy.
Instead, the debate has been pushed to the benefit of tax cuts for the wealthy and misinformation about how the wealthy having lower taxes benefits the economy.
Let's be clear: Lower taxes for rich people only helps rich people. They are not using the money to create jobs because it's not that much money, and they, like many Americans, are sitting on their cash.
To link the wealthy with the unemployed is a sad comparison.