Saturday, January 04, 2014
White House starts year with solid forecheck
The first shots of this election year 2014 have been fired by the White House with a call for extension of long term unemployment benefits.
The White House went on the offensive Friday seeking to renew an emergency aid program for out-of-work Americans that expired at the end of 2013.This is one of those issues that will make very bad press for the Republican/Teabaggers because every member of Congress has people affected in their districts. On the other hand the Republican/Teabaggers need not do anything to kill this idea. If the Democrats can maintain public pressure despite corporate media efforts to stifle it, they can score a major hit on the Evildoers.
About 1.3 million unemployed Americans lost their unemployment insurance on Dec. 28 when Congress failed to extend the Emergency Unemployment Compensation program as part of its budget deal.
President Barack Obama wants Congress to renew the program. On Tuesday, he will meet with families who lost their benefits.
Enacted in 2008, the program provided up to 47 weeks, an average of $300 a week, in benefits to unemployed Americans once they exhausted their state benefits.
Senate Democrats pledged to try and renew the aid program as soon as they get back to work next week. They will take up a bill introduced by Sens. Jack Reed, D-R.I., and Dean Heller, R-Nev., that will extend the program for three months.
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