Senate Republicans to America’s Unemployed: Drop Dead

On the same day the Republican Party released a health "reform" plan that fails to prohibit insurers from denying coverage to the sick, the GOP Senate is deliberately stalling a bill that would extend unemployment benefits to nearly 200,000 people — just because they can.

HuffPo’s Ryan Grim reports:

The extension overwhelmingly passed the House 331-83 in late September. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) made a motion to pass it by unanimous consent in early October; it was blocked by GOP objections.

After negotiations, Reid filed for cloture on Oct. 21 to break a GOP filibuster. On October 27, the Senate voted 87-13 on a motion to proceed to consider the bill, breaking the filibuster.

But under Senate rules, the GOP is still allowed 30 hours of "debate." There actually isn’t much debate, but the clock is ticking while senators take to the floor to make speeches about whatever they like.

To get things moving, Democrats sweetened the pot, adding in billions in tax breaks for business — a net operating loss carry-back provision that the GOP has long favored — and an extension of the homebuyer tax credit. Reid introduced the goodies in a substitute amendment with Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), a champion of the business tax break.

. . .

Still, the GOP fights, requesting that the 30 more hours of "debate" elapse. That’ll take the Senate to late Tuesday night. If Reid invokes cloture again to proceed to the underlying bill, another 30 hours would take the Senate to Thursday morning at the earliest for — at last — a vote on the bill itself.

In the meantime, over 180,000 people whose unemployment insurance ended during these delays are waiting while Mitch McConnell pretends his 20 percent party only wants to help.

How would Alan Grayson describe the GOP’s jobs policy? "Don’t lose your job; but if you do, . . ."

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The Hill, Reid: Republicans to Blame for 5-week unemployment insurance delay