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Olympia Snowe hinted at this yesterday, and today she made it official – she would support a standalone bill extending unemployment insurance, without offsetting the spending.
The hundreds of thousands of unemployed Americans who are losing jobless benefits every week deserve our immediate attention, so I am writing today to urge you to bring a free-standing extension of unemployment insurance benefits to the Senate floor for a vote early next week. As of today, more than 1.2 million people out of work for longer than six months are ineligible for the next tier of extended benefits, which were originally provided by the economic stimulus bill to fight the recession.
It’s worth calling her bluff. Ben Nelson would probably be the one vote needed to capture in order to get 60 votes for this. I’m not certain he would vote for it. If Snowe wants this, she can find someone else on her side of the aisle to ensure it.
There are too many lives at stake to not at least consider this for early next week. Hopefully it gets done, so we don’t have the insane experience where Republicans can block the desperately poor from being able to keep their homes and feed their families, but everyone can come together to make sure that doctors don’t get a pay cut.
UPDATE: Reid spokesman Jim Manley doesn’t sound appreciative of the concession:
“We appreciate Senator Snowe’s concerns, but the fact is that she is sending the letter to the wrong person and to the wrong party. We know that the thousands of unemployed workers in Maine want an explanation as to why she joined with all Republicans to vote against legislation to help the unemployed and why she stood silent as members of her party objected to passing the same stand-alone bill she now says she seeks. Nothing in the letter can change those facts.”
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I agree. Reid should give her a vote. Either she will be exposed as a liar or we will get our unemployment fix. It seems like a win-win.
Except there is one other possibility: that Kent Conrad and friends secretly oppose the bill, and have persuaded Reid not to revisit it.
Draw up the quickest UI bill you can think of. Pull the language exactly out of the other bill if have to.
File for Cloture immediately, and tell Snowe to make it happen.
If it doesn’t, make another campaign ad out of it excoriating even the most Democrat-friendly Republican as a lying bitch who doesn’t care about “the small people”.
Come on, Even BP care about “the small people”
Are Republicans worse than BP?
I just wrote Democrats another ad. I’ll take my consulting fee now, please. Wire transfer preferred.
Is Maine’s Snow Melting??? I doubt it… But Maine is not a rich state and most make their living at blue collar jobs… She can’t afford to displease them, thus the offer… Simple survivor tactics… what a waste for Maine…
It won’t matter. Lieberman or Bayh or Lincoln will support the Republican filibuster and that’s IF Reid brings it up, a huge if. I think there are a lot of Democrats who are secretly gleeful to have this vote to beat Republicans over the head with in November.
Reid spokesman, Jim Manley has a job. His time would have been much better spent standing with his foot on Ben Nelson’s throat instead of playing political word games with Snowe.
Does Reid’s left hand know what his right hand is doing? He is an inept, clueless, corrupt sorry excuse for a human being.
Worst. Senate Majority Leader. Ever!
This will be a telling moment. I think a specifically radicalized long-term-unemployed electorate is the most likely outcome if the R’s keep dancing on this 3rd rail — that’s different from the throw-the-bums-out reaction they seem to be trying to cook up — and it only takes a few R’s wising up to that to get this thing through the Senate. Anybody see the DK piece quoting the reader comments on yesterday’s WSJ UI story? The R party is shedding members at quite a rate over this.
On the other hand, they’re also bought…
Without a doubt. He isn’t fit to serve even on a local level as councilman.
neener neener neener !
I respect the lying, stealing fascist more everyday. At least for those dumb enough to believe the liars, and dumb enough to support the liars – the dummies are getting what they paid for ! they get lied to, they get cheated. WTF, at least it is straight up honest to goodness thievery.
we get this pontificator telling the world how noble our side is and how un-noble their side is … SNORE. although …
IF we’re dumb enough to endure worthless sacks of shit like Harry, maybe we deserve him!
rmm.
I’ve said this at DKos several times, so I guess it’s time to ride my hobby horse to FDL and snag the reins around the hitching rail here. Maybe some doctors are overpaid, but the ones I deal with are not. I have the Medical Summary Notices in annually separated folders in the file cabinet and anyone who likes is welcome to talk specifics. Cancer treatment included: mammos, biopsies, radiologists, surgeons, radiation treatments, follow-ups. If you haven’t gotten the bills, don’t complain about the charges because you may not know what you’re talking about.
Now, if you’re talking about elective procedures, well, that’s another story. But I’m talking about the bills I have, actually have, in hand, for necessary medical work. And believe me, I am ferocious about not partaking of or paying for unnecessary medical stuff. Ask the docs who argue with me about treatments and meds. Including the cancer doc who argued every which way she knew how for radiation treatment and thought I wasn’t going to do it because I wouldn’t bend until my own research concluded that it made sense.
Don’t listen to the noise about greedy docs. The whole system of medical procedural classification, prioritization, and payment allocation is insane. It costs a fortune in admin overhead, adds immense complexity, and mis-allocates funds. Many docs are not overpaid, and they don’t like the system, either.
He’s calling her a liar now.
Could be anybody.
Reid should have made the Repubs filibuster a stand alone UI bill anyway when he knew they would filibuster the larger bill. He should go ahead with this. I don’t understand why he isn’t doing this anyway.
Well said.
To me it seems like Reid & most of the corporate Dems want to stifle unemployed workers from getting their UI.
Why is the Senate still scheduled for a vacation if they can’t pass a UI-Jobs bill ?….why ?
Folks this is weak leadership from Reid.Just think how much more of this you are going to have to put up with once this creep gets re-elected….
Does make one wonder, doesn’t it? Gives believability to the idea that the “parties” collude and most of the fighting is theater.
The New Dems play a game. One or more, as many as necessary, vote against the public interest, and the rest pretend to be for the people. They take turns – Nelson, Baucus, Conrad, Lincoln, et al.
It really does. What could be the thinking behind not pursuing a stand-alone UI, expecially when one Republican has already committed to it? Let’s just start with the basics. If the Democrats want to govern responsibly they MUST extend UI Reid talking about?
So, is Popeye’s girlfriend today’s “revolving hero?”
I think there are a lot of Democrats who are secretly gleeful to have this vote to beat Republicans over the head with in November.
You’re probably right, but the thing is there are a lot of people who will NOT blame the Republicans for blocking UI to the most needy. They’ll blame it on the Democrats because they are the party in power.
There are a lot of people who post on sites such as this one who totally understand how the system works, but there are a lot of people who don’t have a clue how it works — and they vote.
Peterr is upstairs!
First They Came For the Nuns, But I Didn’t Speak Up Since I was not a Nun
You’re probably right about that. I called my UI office today and was told to call my Senators and complain. No more EUC will be forthcoming until they get an agreement.
I also called Ben Nelson’s office and blasted him for this maneuver.
The facts are this: Middle class, educated, skilled people like myself cannot get jobs in six months. (Esp not in construction – 27% unemployment. You read that right.) THERE ARE NO JOBS. And when there are, the lines are OUT THE DOOR.
Congress needs to get this, and quick. They will lose not only the Dems, but also Independents and Republicans who aren’t TPers (who appear to not work, for the most part….) They will lose them for a generation, because people like me will not forget who handed $1T to Wall Street on a blank check and who dangled UI extensions over and over and finally cut everyone off at the worst possible moment.
I single out Kent Conrad because he has called for paying for unemployment benefits out of the stimulus, and because of this sensitive comment to the WaPo today: “People are in the mood of letting the dust settle before finding the next step.”
The “people” he’s referring to are Senators, not the lesser people.
Beautifully put. Atticus would have been proud of you, Scout.
Put it up for a vote. We need this for the unemployed. Do the right thing and let them filibuster a clean bill with no place to hide, if they will. If we lose we have an issue and we damn well should scream about it, including Obama. But I don’t think we will lose. The repugs can’t really afford to lose this one despite the tough talk.
Whatever Kent Conrad thinks, I am nobody’s lesser.
Reid should put up the bill and put some real money in it. Then we’ll see.
The reality is that the dems dont have the votes to pass it either. As long as they know the bill wont pass the dems will line up and vote for it, the minute it looks like it could pass some of the dems will walk away from it.
60 votes is a bull shit scam perpetrated by Democrats who never really wanted to govern.
Seconded! We watched Bush push thru nearly everything he wanted with reconciliation. The Dems set up “bipartisan BS” as well as requiring their party to get 60 votes. Very convenient for their overlords
Seems to me Reid’s spokesperson put the burden right back on Snowe and the Reps, where it belongs. She can *say* she’d support standalone UI, but will she introduce it, sponsor it, twist arms to get it? No? Then make her posturing *the* issue, saddle every single Rep, including House members, with this approach to the unemployed, and let them deal with the fallout.
Regardless of the conventional wisdom, simply shouting the Rep agenda from every rooftop ought to bring filibuster-proof (and I include every a-hole Dem in that count) majorities and let Obama know where peoples’ concerns really lie. Willy Makit? Betty Dont.
Sure, pass an extension so the deadbeats and freeloaders can continue to sit on the dead rear ends.
Believe you’re on the wrong thread.
Just in case you missed it, I called bull shit on your nice little fantasy scenario you posted yesterday.
All of a sudden we sure have a lot of “…deadbeats and freeloaders…” in the US. Now how did that happen? How about the good folks on Wall Street who caused the misery the American people are now experiencing? You forgot to mention the blatant stealing of the people who casued all of this. I can only conclude you condone stealing and condemn the victims of theft. Thank goodness you are on their side. What a relief.