Republicans to Tell Jobless ‘Tough Luck,’ Block Senate Stimulus Bill

by Mike Hall, Feb 7, 2008

An unemployment check to a jobless worker might mean the difference between paying the mortgage or rent and losing the home. A $500 tax rebate check to a low-income worker, senior citizen or disabled vet might the mean the difference between food on the table and going hungry.

But to Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), they’re nothing more than “legislative goodies.”

That’s why McConnell and 39 other Republicans last night killed, via filibuster, an economic stimulus package that would have extended unemployment insurance (UI) benefits to workers who have run out of benefits and provided tax rebates to some 20 million people with low incomes, senior citizens and 250,000 veterans with disabilities. Both provisions were added by Senate Democrats to a House-passed bill.

Senate Republicans also objected to several other provisions in the bill, including home heating assistance for low-income families.

While the Senate package is an improvement on the House bill, the AFL-CIO has urged lawmakers to include a temporary increase in food-stamp benefits along with the UI extension and the expanded rebates as one of the most efficient ways to pump money quickly into the economy. The AFL-CIO also is pushing fiscal relief to the states and the acceleration of ready-to-go infrastructure construction projects.

The Senate’s 59-40 vote fell one vote short of the 60 needed to end the Republican filibuster. Eight Republicans voted with all the Democrats and two independents. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said:

It is incredible that not even nine Republicans would join us to strengthen our weakening economy by helping those who need it most. Given a chance to act as a recession looms, more than 40 Republicans today said no to helping 20 million seniors and no to 250,000 disabled veterans. They said no to those who have lost their jobs and no to small business that are suffering in the Bush economy. They said no to helping American families pay their heating bill and avoid foreclosure.

In a parliamentary maneuver, Reid switched his vote to “no” in order to be able to bring the bill up again.

Democratic presidential candidates Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and Barack Obama (Ill.) came off the campaign trail to vote for the bill. But Republican front-runner Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) didn’t bother to show up. Aides said McCain would have voted against the bill. But his absence conveniently provided some political cover. According to the Associated Press:

Voting “no” with Republican leaders would have offended millions of Social Security recipients and the disabled veterans not scheduled to receive rebates. Voting “yes,” on the other hand, risked alienating Bush, GOP leaders and conservatives already suspicious of McCain’s political leanings. McCain was speaking Thursday before a meeting of the Conservative Political Action Conference, a group that booed him last year in absentia.

Later today or tomorrow, the Senate is expected to take up the House version of stimulus and there may be an effort to add the UI extension and rebates for people with lower incomes, seniors and veterans. The Bush White House has strongly opposed adding provisions and hinted that if it is included in final package, a veto could be in store.

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