Lack of Jobs, Not ‘Generous’ UI Benefits, Keep Unemployed Jobless
You’ve really got to wonder if any of the Republican lawmakers, conservative think-tankers and right-wing bloggers who continue to claim that jobless workers would rather collect unemployment insurance (UI) benefits than find a job have ever lived in the real world.
Thankfully, it’s been a long time, but when I was collecting UI, I was busting my hump to find work because the $190 or so a week UI check didn’t go too far. Same thing with my wife when she was out of work back then. Everybody I’ve known who’s been on UI would gladly have traded that UI check for a paycheck. If you ask the nearly 15 million people out of work today—almost half for more than six months—they’d make the same deal.
It’s the Jobs, Stupid
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So the U.S. Senate ran off on vacation and left the House to pass a jobs bill that the august body won’t consider for another week, when up to 1.2 million jobless workers will have lost their unemployment insurance (UI) because the Senate failed to act.
Nice.
Expect to win any elections anytime soon? Guess not. Because what working families voters care about—job creation—clearly is no match for the chance to fire up the limos and head out of town.
This makes the third time Congress let extended UI lapse and the second time Congress left town for a recess knowing it would cause massive hardship for workers unable to find jobs.
Proposed Commission Is Fast Track to Cutting Social Security, Medicare
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Next week, the U.S. Senate will vote on legislation that a few years down the road could slash Social Security and Medicare benefits without any further debate or consideration by Congress.
The so-called Entitlement Reform Commission is the creation of Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) and Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), who plan to offer an amendment to create the commission to debt ceiling legislation.
This special appointed commission would supposedly create a blueprint to reduce the deficit by cutting vital government programs, including Social Security and Medicare. But under the Gregg-Conrad scheme, the panel’s recommendation would be “fast tracked” with no amendments allowed, just an up-or-down vote, and that, says the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare (NCPSSM), is a process
designed to minimize Congress’ role in making these vital decisions. Or as some might argue, to provide political cover for those decisions.
Jobs Creation or Deficit Reduction? The Public Has Decided
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Stop by any corner grocery store and ask the people standing in line: What do you worry about most—jobs or the nation’s budget deficit?
If they don’t choke up laughing, chances are real high they’ll give the same response as did the public in two recent polls:
Priority #1: Jobs.
Priority #2: Jobs.
Priority #3: Jobs.
A poll for Democracy Corps published Nov. 30 found that when given a choice, “voters embrace a bold jobs initiative over a long-term deficit reduction program by two-to-one.” A survey taken by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) earlier this fall revealed the same: The Hart Research Associates poll found that by a margin of 53 percent to 42 percent, the public is more concerned about rising unemployment rates than the rising federal deficit.
At Roundtables, Union Members Call for Health Care Reform
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Rosie Britz, a member of the Plumbers and Pipe Fitters (UA), is just one of thousands of union volunteers who have put time and effort into the fight for health care reform. Britz says health care reform is critical for the uninsured—as well as ensuring people like her, who have insurance, have more security:
“This health care bill will be a safety net for all of us construction workers. It’s got to get done. We cannot sit on our hands and hope someone else will do it.”
Britz was one of the union members who attended a roundtable discussion Tuesday in Mosinee, Wis., one of several roundtables around the country this week to get the word out about the need for health care reform. Union members, community allies and small business owners also came together for health care roundtables in South Bend and other Indiana cities.
You can be a part of the effort. Contact your senators and ask for real health care reform.
