Obama Urges Senate to Pass Unemployment Extension
July 19) -- In anticipation of Tuesday's unemployment extension vote in the Senate, President Barack Obama made an appearance in the Rose Garden this morning to urge legislators to pass a bill that would extend the period to apply for unemployment aid through the end of November. With last week's appointment of Carte Goodwin to the late Robert Byrd's vacated West Virginia Senate seat, the bill is expected to pass.
Obama also addressed the conservative argument that continuing unemployment benefits acts as a disincentive for the unemployed to actively seek new jobs.
"These leaders in the Senate who are advancing a misguided notion that emergency relief somehow discourages people from looking for a job should talk to these folks," Obama said, directing the audience's attention to three unemployed Americans sharing the stage with him. "That attitude, I think, reflects a lack of faith in the American people."
http://www.aolnews.com/surge-desk/article/obama-urges-senate-to-pass-unemployment-extension/19559817
Obama Pushes Congress to Pass Unemployment Benefits Extension
In a sharp, scolding tone, President Obama on Monday castigated the "partisan minority" who have held the workers of America "hostage to politics" by delaying the extension of unemployment benefits. The president called for Congress to pass the extension, which will come up for vote tomorrow, saying it was "time to do what's right -- not for the next election, but for the middle class."
In making his case, Obama stood alongside three people -- Jim Chukalas of Fredon Township, N.J., Leslie Macko of Charlottesville, Va., and Denise Gibson of Queens, N.Y. -- who are out of work and for whom the extension of benefits was characterized as critical. Obama noted that all three were actively looking for work but needed "emergency relief to help them pay the rent and cover their utilities and put food on the table while they're looking for another job."
The president recalled a "long tradition" of providing relief to the unemployed under previous administrations -- Republican and Democratic alike -- criticizing those who had championed policies that "turned a record surplus into a massive deficit, the same people who didn't have any problem spending hundreds of billions of dollars on tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans [and] are now saying we shouldn't offer relief to middle class Americans who really need help."
The president made clear his frustration at the thus-far stymied efforts to pass the extension "not once, not twice, but three times." He targeted Senate Republican leaders who were "advancing a misguided notion that emergency relief somehow discourages people from looking for a job," countering that those needing unemployment benefits were "honest, decent, hardworking folks who've fallen on hard times through no fault of their own; who have nowhere else to turn except unemployment benefits; who need emergency relief to help them weather this economic storm."
http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/0...ress-to-pass-unemployment-benefits-extension/
July 19) -- In anticipation of Tuesday's unemployment extension vote in the Senate, President Barack Obama made an appearance in the Rose Garden this morning to urge legislators to pass a bill that would extend the period to apply for unemployment aid through the end of November. With last week's appointment of Carte Goodwin to the late Robert Byrd's vacated West Virginia Senate seat, the bill is expected to pass.
Obama also addressed the conservative argument that continuing unemployment benefits acts as a disincentive for the unemployed to actively seek new jobs.
"These leaders in the Senate who are advancing a misguided notion that emergency relief somehow discourages people from looking for a job should talk to these folks," Obama said, directing the audience's attention to three unemployed Americans sharing the stage with him. "That attitude, I think, reflects a lack of faith in the American people."
http://www.aolnews.com/surge-desk/article/obama-urges-senate-to-pass-unemployment-extension/19559817
Obama Pushes Congress to Pass Unemployment Benefits Extension
In a sharp, scolding tone, President Obama on Monday castigated the "partisan minority" who have held the workers of America "hostage to politics" by delaying the extension of unemployment benefits. The president called for Congress to pass the extension, which will come up for vote tomorrow, saying it was "time to do what's right -- not for the next election, but for the middle class."
In making his case, Obama stood alongside three people -- Jim Chukalas of Fredon Township, N.J., Leslie Macko of Charlottesville, Va., and Denise Gibson of Queens, N.Y. -- who are out of work and for whom the extension of benefits was characterized as critical. Obama noted that all three were actively looking for work but needed "emergency relief to help them pay the rent and cover their utilities and put food on the table while they're looking for another job."
The president recalled a "long tradition" of providing relief to the unemployed under previous administrations -- Republican and Democratic alike -- criticizing those who had championed policies that "turned a record surplus into a massive deficit, the same people who didn't have any problem spending hundreds of billions of dollars on tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans [and] are now saying we shouldn't offer relief to middle class Americans who really need help."
The president made clear his frustration at the thus-far stymied efforts to pass the extension "not once, not twice, but three times." He targeted Senate Republican leaders who were "advancing a misguided notion that emergency relief somehow discourages people from looking for a job," countering that those needing unemployment benefits were "honest, decent, hardworking folks who've fallen on hard times through no fault of their own; who have nowhere else to turn except unemployment benefits; who need emergency relief to help them weather this economic storm."
http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/0...ress-to-pass-unemployment-benefits-extension/