Since the beginning of the Great Recession, 15 million Americans have lost their jobs. Almost half of them have been out of work for six months or more, and there are currently nearly five workers actively seeking work for every available job. However, the Senate has been unable to extend job benefits because of a Republican filibuster, which has been joined by Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE). On three separate occasions, Democrats tried to break the filibuster but were unsuccessful. And while no senator voting to continue the filibuster should be allowed to escape responsibility, many voting to sustain it are from states that have been hit particularly hard by the unemployment crisis
Before y’all go off the reservation and begin believing that Republicans actually give a tinker’s damn about anything except their own narrow, self-interested agenda, consider the graph below. What you’ll see are 17 Republicans, all from states with double-digit unemployment and how many times they’ve voted to filibuster extended unemployment benefits. Yes, this one’s personal for me.
Double-digit unemployment. THIS is the country that they want back. All 17 of these Republicans represent states where at least ONE out of every TEN of their constituents is unemployed…and yet they refuse to consider the human cost of their intransigence. If these 17 are truly so desperately concerned about the deficit (the reason they’ve provided for their filibuster), then why do they continue to reflexively vote for any and all measures to fund our two never-ending wars?
If there’s ANY justice in this world, these 17 Republithugs will all have reserved parking spaces waiting for them in Hell. They- and their black, self-interested hearts- richly deserve them.
The Republican Party: Profits And Power Before People. Now there’s some truth in advertising, eh?