Mitch McConnell Offers To Extend Unemployment Benefits if Democrats Kill Obamacare

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Mitch McConnell pulled a deplorable stunt on the Senate floor today when he offered to extend unemployment benefits, but only if Democrats kill Obamacare.

Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) offered on the Senate floor to extend unemployment benefits if the Obamacare individual mandate was delayed for a year. He claimed that they would “pay” for the unemployment benefits extension by killing Obamacare. The problem is that the ACA doesn’t add anything to the deficit.

In October when the CBO rescored the ACA, they found, “Those amounts do not reflect the total budgetary impact of the ACA. That legislation includes many other provisions that, on net, will reduce budget deficits. Taking the coverage provisions and other provisions together, CBO and JCT have estimated that the ACA will reduce deficits over the next 10 years and in the subsequent decade.”

McConnell was trying to eliminate something that reduces the deficit in order to pay for an extension of unemployment benefits. This is how delusional Republicans are about the ACA. They have invented their own reality on healthcare, and this includes their own version of a fiscal impact on the law that doesn’t exist.

Reid responded by saying, “this is a guise to obstruct, and I object with as much fervor as I can.” McConnell accused Reid of exploiting the struggles of the poor, and asked, “How many of these have been doing well during the Obama economy.”

Republicans have decided that they will extend unemployment benefits, but only if Democrats and Obama kill Obamacare. This is a non starter, and ruse designed to distract the American people from realizing that Republicans are denying an unemployment benefits to 1.3 million Americans.

While 1.3 million Americans suffer, McConnell and Senate Republicans are playing games.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association