17K Hoosiers may loose unemployment on Monday

[HoosierHelen]

For those who are on extended Unemployment benefits, you may be disappointed when you loose your unemployment checks on Monday according to this article from the Indianapolis Star. I do not disagree with Senator Bunning's concern about paying for these benefits. However, American families already struggling to make do on unemployment are going to be hit VERY hard with this surprising news.

One man, a Kentucky Republican, who according to several sources, essentially told Democratic colleagues tough luck Thursday when they tried to get him to change his mind.

The House had passed the extension by voice vote, and the Senate was expected to go along. Senate Democrats repeatedly tried to follow suit Thursday night and Friday morning, but they couldn't overcome the objections of a single lawmaker, Bunning, who objected because Congress didn't pay for the $10 billion measure.

Bunning, 77, said he wanted it paid for out of unspent economic-stimulus money.

At stake are benefits for roughly a million Americans, including an estimated 60,000 Kentuckians and 160,000 Hoosiers, according to the National Employment Law Project, a group that advocates for more unemployment insurance.

http://www.indystar.com/article/2010...-cost-Hoosiers

Louisville, Kentucky Courier-Journal reports with further details here.

http://www.courier-journal.com/artic...ed+jobless+aid

[hideaway70]

For those who are on extended Unemployment benefits, you may be disappointed when you loose your unemployment checks on Monday according to this article from the Indianapolis Star. I do not disagree with Senator Bunning's concern about paying for these benefits. However, American families already struggling to make do on unemployment are going to be hit VERY hard with this surprising news.

One man, a Kentucky Republican, who according to several sources, essentially told Democratic colleagues tough luck Thursday when they tried to get him to change his mind.

The House had passed the extension by voice vote, and the Senate was expected to go along. Senate Democrats repeatedly tried to follow suit Thursday night and Friday morning, but they couldn't overcome the objections of a single lawmaker, Bunning, who objected because Congress didn't pay for the $10 billion measure.

Bunning, 77, said he wanted it paid for out of unspent economic-stimulus money.

At stake are benefits for roughly a million Americans, including an estimated 60,000 Kentuckians and 160,000 Hoosiers, according to the National Employment Law Project, a group that advocates for more unemployment insurance.

http://www.indystar.com/article/20100227/LOCAL18/2270360/Kentucky-senator-s-action-could-cost-Hoosiers

Louisville, Kentucky Courier-Journal reports with further details here.

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20100226/NEWS01/2260352/1008/news01/Bunning+blocks+extended+jobless+aid

This isn't surprising. People like Bunning ar so disconnected from actual working human beings in their daily lives. They and their families will never experience the financial devastation losing one's job causes. Therefore, he doesn't care about things like unemployment benefits, except as they directly affect the bottom line for projects they feel are more important.

[Felary]

Its spreading on my Facebook page and alot of people are scared.Alot of us are former Dalton Kendallville employees, my husband was 3rd generation.I'm fortunate to have found a job 6 months ago and even tho it dosn't have any benefits we are still being able to pay our bills,hopfully that won't change when my husband looses his unemployment.

[evilkumquat]

Political grandstanding by a partisan hack.

This way, Bunning can go back to Kentucky and claim he was working hard to fight the abuses of the Democrats in Washington, while many in his state are too stupid to realize just how badly he's trying to screw them over.

But then, what more can be said about someone once declared one of the five worst Senators by Time Magazine?

In addition to being hostile to staff members on the Hill and occasionally even other Senators, Bunning shows little interest in policy unless it involves baseball, according to congressional experts and colleagues.

http://www.time.com/time/nation/arti...183986,00.html

[HoosierHelen]

Republican Senator Bunning could care less for those families in his state or elsewhere who were left hanging on to survival by their unemployment checks when he took this stand. I do not disagree our lawmakers need to be establishing where they will be pulling these funds from. That is THEIR job failure...not the citizens. Lawmakers have been voted into office to make these decisions.

Lawmakers need to remember that anyone drawing unemployment are doing so because they have been WORKING PEOPLE who have lost their jobs due to no fault of their own. Duh!!

In an acrimonious debate late Thursday night, Bunning accused the Democrats of mounting an “ambush” against him by repeatedly trying to move the bill. And he complained that, in the process, he was missing the University of Kentucky’s basketball game that evening with South Carolina.
“We weren't going to stand around for 3½ hours debating the issue,” the Kentucky senator declared. “But I want to assure the people who have watched this thing until a quarter of 12, I have missed the Kentucky-South Carolina game that started at 9 o'clock. It is the only redeeming chance we had to beat South Carolina, since they are the only team that has beat Kentucky this year.”
At one point, Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., pleaded with Bunning to end his objections. Bunning, sitting at his desk in the back row of the Senate, replied: “Tough s—t,” according to the Washington-based political newspaper Politico.
Merkley’s spokeswoman, Julie Edwards, said Friday that he was speaking with Durbin on the floor and didn’t hear Bunning’s remark.

http://www.courier-journal.com/artic...ed+jobless+aid

[hairypumper]

The DWD website says anyone on an extension now will lose benefits when their current extension runs out.

[Mrs.Slotz]

The DWD website says anyone on an extension now will lose benefits when their current extension runs out.

It is so sad to see this happening to so many people. Our neighbor had to take a job that he does not have any interest in doing. The pay is less than 1/2 of what he was making but, because his benefits ran out, he had to do something. I am very afraid of what is happening now and more afraid of what is to come.

[evilkumquat]

It is so sad to see this happening to so many people. Our neighbor had to take a job that he does not have any interest in doing. The pay is less than 1/2 of what he was making but, because his benefits ran out, he had to do something. I am very afraid of what is happening now and more afraid of what is to come.

I had to explain this to a Republican I know. He seemed woefully ignorant of the concept of "underemployed".

Having a "job" means little if the work doesn't pay enough to keep the mortgage current on one's home, or the family fed, or the mounting medical bills paid.

[HoosierHelen]

It is so sad to see this happening to so many people. Our neighbor had to take a job that he does not have any interest in doing. The pay is less than 1/2 of what he was making but, because his benefits ran out, he had to do something. I am very afraid of what is happening now and more afraid of what is to come.

Mrs. Slotz...I was at a local Wal-Mart recently and bumped into a gentleman I had worked with in a previous job. His previous position was as an Architectural Engineer with a degree from Purdue and 20+ yrs of experience in his profession. He was wearing a blue apron and pointing shoppers toward the merchandise they were looking for. THAT is under employed!! This man has a wife and 5 children. I just wanted to cry.

[Graygleam]

And on top of having no job, and all that entails, the philological stress of being in one's late 50's or early 60's and knowing that no one wants you (for work) must be staggering.

[2cents]

As of January the recorded number of unemployed people was 14.8 million. I would think that this would qualify as a disaster. We can send money to Haiti and Chili to help them rebuild. We can continue to dump Billions into Iraq and Afghanistan. But our Government cannot stand behind the many hard working Americans who have been unfortunate enough to lose their jobs due to the current economic status and all of the job losses caused by our leaders desiring a Global Economy that in turn sent most of our jobs overseas. The only way anything will probably get done will be when the Government, Health-care Industry, and Insurance Industry have to experience the pay cuts that the rest of the working people have experienced. It is just a matter of time. If it were the 1700’s I believe Tarring and Feathering would be appropriate. It is truly a sad state of affairs. I guess more people will be forced to go on Welfare and Medicaid which won’t resolve Senator Bunning’s concerns about its effect on the budget deficit.

[hairypumper]

I think everyone who loses unemployment should move to Kentucky. Their Social Services would be so completely overwhelmed Bunning wouldn't be able to show his face ever again.

[HomeyG]

I think everyone is getting excited over nothing. No one is going to lose their unemployment benefits.

[Mrs.Slotz]

I think everyone is getting excited over nothing. No one is going to lose their unemployment benefits.

Are you sure about that? How long should a person be able to draw unemployment?

[Graygleam]

I think everyone is getting excited over nothing. No one is going to lose their unemployment benefits.

Are you receiving unemployment benefits, Homey? If you were, is there a possibility that you might be a little more "excited over nothing"?

[hairypumper]

I think everyone is getting excited over nothing. No one is going to lose their unemployment benefits.

You're going to personally guarantee that, right?

[HomeyG]

You're going to personally guarantee that, right?

Sure. Besides its not about "what" its about "who."

[flatbird1]

Until you change the way money works you change nothing. The only way to change the way money works is to make it a crime to loan out money at interest.

[john40]

Mrs. Slotz...I was at a local Wal-Mart recently and bumped into a gentleman I had worked with in a previous job. His previous position was as an Architectural Engineer with a degree from Purdue and 20+ yrs of experience in his profession. He was wearing a blue apron and pointing shoppers toward the merchandise they were looking for. THAT is under employed!! This man has a wife and 5 children. I just wanted to cry.

The wife and five children could have been prevented.

[HoosierHelen]

The blatant hypocrisy of some of our lawmakers seems to be never ending and unfortunately at the expense of the most needy in our own country. Anyone who wishes to call me a bleeding heart....jump in the pool. This idiot, Jim Bunning, from Kentucky, needs to exist on what he is assigning to his fellow citizens who are able, willing, and ready to work...but cannot find jobs that will support their families.

WASHINGTON (March 1) -- The usual political lines in the Senate pit Democrats against Republicans. This week, however, it's everyone versus Jim Bunning.

The Kentucky Republican is holding up a measure that would provide a one-month extension of unemployment and health insurance benefits for 400,000 Americans, a bill that leaders of both parties had hoped to pass unanimously. Bunning, who is retiring at the end of the year, says the $10 billion extension, which also includes highway transportation funds, must be paid for with spending cuts elsewhere in the budget.
Clyburn characterized Bunning's move as blatant hypocrisy, pointing out that the Republican had "no problem voting a $1.3 trillion tax cut that was not paid for" during the Bush administration. The White House also got into the act Monday. "I think what Senator Bunning has done has frustrated a lot of people across the political spectrum," Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said.

As for Bunning, he continued his objection Monday while lashing out at an ABC News camera crew that followed him into a Senate elevator. "I'm not talking to anybody," Bunning said as he kept journalists from joining him in an elevator reserved for senators. One network producer reported that Bunning gave him the middle finger.

http://www.aolnews.com/politics/arti...efits/19378482