#unemployment #hr4213 #economy #s3520 #hr5618 #paygo
U.S. Senators Jim Risch and Mike Crapo voted to extend unemployment benefits for an additional 90 days without raising the national debt. The amendment, S. Amdt 4492, would have used unspent stimulus funds to cover the three-month extension. Democrats voted the amendment down by a 56-42 margin.
“There has never been a question whether unemployment benefits should be extended. The issue has been if we add an additional $34 billion to our skyrocketing national debt or shift funds from elsewhere to cover it,” said Risch. “Clearly the majority party has decided to borrow and spend today to the detriment of our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren’s future.”
“The amendment that was voted down would have reduced the deficit by $7 billion instead of increasing it by $34 billion, and unemployment benefits would have been extended for those who need them,” Crapo said. “This amendment was offered as a compromise, yet it was still voted down on a party-line vote. It is unfortunate that far too many believe that the Republicans have not supported an unemployment benefit extension; it just should be one that is paid for.”
Source: Senate (Risch)
During the signing of The Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act (IPERA) today:
Obama said, "When we continue to spend as if deficits don't matter that means our kids and our grand kids may wind up saddled with debts that they'll never be able to repay."
Source: MSNBC
“With the President’s signature today, our nation takes a critical step forward for fiscal discipline. The Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act will save taxpayers tens of billions of dollars by cracking down on waste, fraud, and abuse in government spending, identifying and eliminating improper payments, and recovering lost funds that federal agencies have spent improperly.
“This legislation is part of our broader effort to restore fiscal responsibility and uphold our commitment to accountability and transparency. This Congress has made pay-as-you-go spending the law of the land and cracked down on wasteful spending in Medicare and Medicaid. And the House has passed a budget that requires cuts of $7 billion below the President’s request.
Source: House (Pelosi)
On Tuesday, Reid could have passed the standalone extension HR5618 bill. Obama would have signed the continuation of your unemployment checks by Thursday morning.
Instead Reid and Pelosi wanted to use your pain to pass the bigger HR4213. In addition to your unemployment extensions, the bill includes stuff like changes to the satellite TV regulations. If you have an “S” corporation and don’t pay social security taxes, you will now have to pay more taxes thanks to HR4213. Also, HR4213 changes corporation tax laws.
When liberals whine why the cost of the extensions absolutely MUST be added to the national debt and MUST ignore the Paygo law, one reason they point to are the republicans and Bush giving tax cuts to the rich. Well, I read this morning the democrats are considering extending the Bush tax cuts to the rich for two years. The article said they are afraid of stopping the tax cuts because it would hurt their mid-term election chances.
The lame duck congress will have to take this issue up again in November.
Congratulations to the unemployed that now will be getting UI checks.
Unfortunately, the democrats insisted on sticking it to your kids and grandkids with as Obama said “saddled with debts that they'll never be able to repay”.
UPDATE: It seems HR4213 was changed at the last moment to a standalone unemployment extension bill. No “S” corporation tax changes. No satellite TV regulations. No tier V. Etc. That is the reason the House was able to vote on the senate version of HR4213 so quickly.
#unemployment #hr4213 #economy #s3520 #hr5618 #paygo
Republicans pushed back Monday against President Obama’s harsh criticism of the GOP over a stalled extension of unemployment benefits.
As the president slammed Senate Republicans in the Rose Garden for having held up legislation extending the benefits, the GOP sought to turn up the heat on Obama about the deficit.
“The president knows that Republicans support extending unemployment insurance and doing it in a fiscally responsible way by cutting spending elsewhere in the $3 trillion federal budget,” said House GOP leader John Boehner (Ohio). “At a time of record debt and deficits made worse by Washington Democrats’ massive spending spree, that’s the right thing to do and the right way to do it.”
Source: The Hill
At 2:30pm tomorrow, the senate will be voting on the unemployment extensions. Reid says he has the 60 votes needed. But he is not voting on the house version of HR5618 the standalone unemployment extension bill.
If Reid chooses to vote on the house version of HR5618 and it passes, it would be signed into law by this Wednesday.
But Reid is choosing to vote on a larger HR4213 that Congress has not been able to pass since last December. Not even the House and Senate democrats can agree on what should be in HR4213. It has been amended from the last version approved by the House.
Since both the House and Senate have to vote on the exactly same worded bill, the House would have to approve the Senate version before Congress goes on it’s third summer vacation, the august recess. They may be leaving early July 30th and returning in September.
If your unemployment checks do not continue until September, blame Reid for choosing HR4213 rather than HR5618.
For the common liberal responses,
how does GOP/Bush own spending spree prevent unused stimulus funds from being used to pay for the extensions?
For those that hate money being spent in Iraq and Afghanistan, how does that prevent unused stimulus funds from paying for your UI checks?
#unemployment #hr4213 #economy #s3520 #hr5618 #paygo
From House floor before passage of standalone extension bill HR5618:
Mr. CAMP (R-MI):What we've been hearing most of today is really a false choice, that we either do this bill unpaid for or do nothing at all. And in a $3 trillion budget, we can't find the $34 billion to pay for this bill?
As I said before, I have supported the extension of unemployment benefits. I've voted for the extension of unemployment benefits. But given the fiscal shape this country is in now, we believe that it's important to offer these benefits and also pay for these benefits so that we don't help today's unemployed at the expense of tomorrow's future job seekers.
And the effect on the debt, and I could go through the litany. Obviously, it didn't start last year. But if you look at what has happened since January of 2009, a $410 billion supplemental that included 8,500 earmarks, a $1 trillion stimulus, a $1 trillion health care bill. We've got hundreds of billions of dollars in unspent stimulus that isn't being returned to the taxpayers that could be redirected to pay for these unemployment benefits that isn't.
So what I hear is, We just need to spend. And this is an important need, but why not let us offer an amendment to find a way to pay for these extended unemployment benefits?
Mr. CAMP (R-MI): Mr. Speaker, this debate has shown the length the majority will go to in order to avoid paying for any government spending, even calling the eighth extension of unemployment benefits an emergency. One would hope that even the Congress would see this coming after the first seven times.
We could pass this bill with broad bipartisan support if Democrats would just agree to pay for the spending. Instead, their refusal to pay for these benefits will mean hundreds of thousands of unemployed Americans are losing unemployment benefits at a time when the unemployment rate is nearly 10 percent, and it shouldn't be this way, because this bill is going nowhere.
The American people know we must pay for the spending, and the Senate appears to have heard that message. Just last night the Senate rejected this bill, so it has no hope of being signed into law.
Given the Senate vote, this isn't just an exercise in fiscal irresponsibility; it's an exercise in futility.
The unemployed are facing a personal emergency, and our country's facing an emergency that affects us all and future generations. The mountain of debt this bill will only add to.
If we want to help those who are out of work, let's pass something that might actually pass the Senate and won't increase the deficit, such as the motion to recommit that I'll be offering in a moment.
Source: Congressional Record
How does the republicans giving tax cuts to the “rich” prevent unused stimulus funds from being used to pay for HR5618 the standalone unemployment extension bill?
How does the republicans bailing out Wall Street prevent unused stimulus funds from being used to pay for HR5618 the standalone unemployment extension bill?
How does the republicans funding Iraq and Afghanistan prevent unused stimulus funds from being used to pay for HR5618 the standalone unemployment extension bill?
The democrats are the party of NO when it comes to even considering using unused stimulus funds to pay for your unemployment extensions.
Pelosi said “Now, let me say about unemployment insurance, we talk about it as a safety net and the rest. This is one of the biggest stimuluses to our economy.” Even more than the unused stimulus funds?
Both parties say they want the unemployment extensions. The democrats are being politically pigheaded by insisting the cost of the extensions be added to the national debt. The republicans are being politically pigheaded by insisting the cost of the extensions be paid for now.
Reid and Pelosi say the republicans don’t really care about the unemployed. Well, they should “prove” it by giving what the republicans “supposedly” want. Reid and Pelosi should amend HR5618 to be paid for with only unused stimulus funds.
Why are they afraid to do that? If the funds were truly needed in the future, they could create a new stimulus fund bill. Is it because they want the unused stimulus funds available as a political slush fund to “buy” votes for the mid-term elections? Is it because they are afraid the extension bill would be approved and they couldn’t use this as an issue in the mid-term election so they can remain the majority party?
So what is the status of your unemployment checks?
Reid is waiting for Byrd’s replacement at 2:15 tuesday. Then at 2:30, if he can get some republicans to wimp out and vote for an unamended HR5618, you could get your checks a couple days later. Otherwise since both the House and Senate have to vote on the exactly same worded bill, it will most likely be after Congress’s third summer vacation, the august recess. They may be leaving early July 30th and returning in September.
Sorry for the pigheadedness of both parties if you have to wait to September to get your next check.
#unemployment #hr4213 #economy #s3520 #hr5618 #paygo
When members of Congress return from their Fourth of July break Monday, they'll find a big challenge waiting for them right where they left it. The issue is unemployment — specifically an extension of benefits for people who've lost their jobs. The debate has turned into a high-stakes, election-year stand-off over deficits.
More than 2 million people have had their benefits cut off in the six-plus weeks since lawmakers began debating the bill.
Ever since the Eisenhower administration, Congress has approved jobless benefits that go beyond the usual half-year for up to two years of benefits during times of high unemployment.
Democrats want to extend those now-expired benefits another six months. At about $300 a week per beneficiary, that would cost around $34 billion. All but two Senate Republicans say they won't extend those expired benefits unless Congress cuts spending elsewhere; they say they don't want to add to the deficit.
Shortly before he voted to block consideration of an extension, Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown said the issue was about "not burdening future generations." "That will allow us to provide for the needs of our citizens without putting more debt on the credit card," he said. "It's the checking account versus the credit card."
Democrats argue that Brown and 11 other Republicans had no problem adding $33 billion to the deficit to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The other argument Democrats make is a moral one: With very few jobs to be had out there, the larger society should provide long-term unemployment benefits until the job situation gets better.
Source: NPR
For those of you unemployed, do you want your kids to go through unemployment when they grow up? That is the moral question the democrats should be answering. Continue with Obama’s and the democrat’s uncontrolled spending and it will be guaranteed that your children will face unemployment.
Liberals whine about Bush’s and republican’s spending spree. Why do you think the GOP lost control of Congress? Many of the spending spree republicans lost their seats.
Liberals whine about the extensions have always been treated as an emergency. Just because you put the extensions on the nation’s credit card in the past doesn’t mean you are required to continue increasing the national debt.
Liberal media is whining that the Byrd replacement will delay the extensions. No it won’t if the democrats stopped voting NO on the GOP’s versions of the unemployment extension bills where the extensions are paid for with unused stimulus funds.
Remember since before the Memorial Day recess, the republicans have put forth standalone unemployment extension bills and amendments where the benefits have been extend through November and where the extensions were paid for now. In these cases, it is the democrats that is the party of NO and voted against extending your unemployment insurance.
One liberal media whines about the 17 multi-millionaire GOP senators not voting for the unpaid extensions. The article doesn’t talk about the almost same numbers of multi-millionaire democrat senators willing to endanger your kid’s future by adding the cost of the extensions to the national debt.
For those of you unemployed, HR4213 has been changed so I believe the House will have to vote on it again without making any more changes. Remember both the House and Senate have to vote on the same wording of a bill before it can be sent to the president.
#bigoil #bpoilspill #oilspill #renewable
The Interior Department is offering oil and gas leases on 1.8 million acres of Alaska's National Petroleum Reserve while promising to protect critical migratory bird and caribou habitat.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar says the Bureau of Land Management will offer 190 tracts with bids to be opened Aug. 11 in Anchorage. The sale is one of dozens, mostly in Western states, that Salazar announced in November.
The petroleum reserve covers 23 million acres on Alaska's North Slope. That's an area slightly smaller than the state of Indiana.
Source: Huffy Puffy Post
Even with the Obama’s administration inept handling things, it would not take months to stop an oil blowout at a new Alaskan oil well.
If you are a conservative, you will love reading many of the comments to this article.
#renewable #green #windfarm
Another major government organization has found that there is no scientific evidence that wind turbine sound is damaging to human health.
Australia's National Health and Medical Research Council released a public statement on wind turbine sound July 3. Among its findings:
-"While a range of effects such as annoyance, anxiety, hearing loss, and interference with sleep, speech and learning have been reported anecdotally, there is no published scientific evidence to support adverse effects of wind turbines on health."
- "The situation is ... complicated by findings that people who benefit economically from wind turbines were less likely to report annoyance, despite exposure to similar sound levels as people who were not economically benefiting."
Source: REVE
A former resident of Waubra, west of Ballarat, has commissioned a study into the inaudible noise coming from a 128-turbine wind farm.
Noel Dean owns a farm at Waubra but moved to Ballarat because he says low frequency noise from the turbines was making he and his family sick.
He paid a Queensland-based noise expert $43,000 to investigate the phenomenon. Mr Dean says the investigation confirmed that infrasound from the turbines is present on his farm in high levels.
"The levels are higher outside but inside you get more resonation," he said. "You get a more of a pulsing affect inside, bounces off the walls and it's going up and down in these frequencies that make you unsettled, probably anxious and you just want to get out of there because it's going in and out of your hearing threshold."
Mr Dean says the farm's owner, Acciona Energy, needs to take action.
Source: ABC.net (AU)
It is interesting that government may ackwheowledge people’s complaints but say they are not enough to stop wind farms.
Unfortunately, some people are efffected a lot while others are not effected at all.
#unemployment #hr4213 #economy #s3520 #hr5618 #paygo 
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