Republican Senators Slam John Boehner For Blocking Unemployment Benefits Extension

Read: Kristi Noem Is Banned From 20% of South Dakota.

The group of Republican senators who support extending unemployment benefits are calling out John Boehner for blocking the Senate agreement that would help millions of Americans.

Politico spoke to the group of Republicans who debunked Boehner’s complaints:

“There’s a lot of things that the speaker doesn’t like that we do over here,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska). “What we have out there is a fair proposal.”
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“It’s a good compromise that takes care of people who are running out of their checks and does it in a way that is paid for appropriately,” said Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.).

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“It would be a mistake not to at least have that discussion” with the House, (Sen. Dean) Heller said. “I knew that they would have some issues with it. I think it’s pretty palatable for their side. It is paid for. We had to limit the amount of time to five months. There are some good arguments to having this done.”

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And NASWA is now working with senators on making technical tweaks to the legislation to ease states’ worries over implementation. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said one easy fix would be to lay out in the legislation how to explicitly bar millionaires from receiving jobless benefits.

“I just don’t see why that would be a problem. You could have a simple form that people would sign attesting to their income,” Collins said.

Speaker Boehner has come up with a set of increasingly ridiculous complaints that he is using as justification for his opposition to extending unemployment benefits.

The real reason why Boehner is vowing not to bring the eventually Senate passed bill to the floor of the House is that his party wants to ransom the unemployed. Boehner has made rumblings about spending cuts and a bill that works for the House.

A bill that works for the House is Boehner speak for demanding that the IRS stop their crackdown on the campaign donations of the right wing billionaires, or changes to Obamacare.

These are the same old House Republicans, who again, expect to be rewarded for doing their jobs. The Republican senators aren’t buying what Boehner is selling, and neither should you.

At any time, any of them could make Boehner’s life a whole lot easier by dropping their support for the bill. If one Republican defects, the bill will not pass.

They won’t abandon the extension, because they believe in this compromise, which means that John Boehner is now on the hot seat, as his position of starving the unemployed grows more unsustainable with each passing day.

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