WASHINGTON — Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) said on the House floor Thursday that any deal to preserve tax cuts for the rich ought to include help for people who have exhausted 99 weeks of benefits and still haven’t found work. President Obama on Monday cut a controversial deal with congressional Republicans to preserve extended unemployment benefits for 13 months in exchange for two years of continued tax breaks for the wealthy. Jackson Lee said the deal should “further include those who have run up against a brick wall, the ‘99ers,’ as they call them, [who] don’t have any more resources but still have mortgages and food to pay for and bills to pay.”
OK, so here’s a very simple question that no one seems to be able to answer for me: How is it that we can fully fund two far-flung wars and tax cuts for the wealthy, but we can’t find the money to provide for the long-term unemployed? Isn’t one of the basic responsibilities of government to care for its citizens? I’m not talking about handouts, but given that we’re in the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, how is it that we can’t take care of our own?
I’ve never been a fan of Sheila Jackson Lee, but in this case she’s spot on. If we can’t find it within ourselves to offer a hand to those among us most desperately in need of one, what claim to humanity do we really have? One of the things that has really, truly saddened me over the past few years is the sense that we as a country have our priorities out of whack. We can bomb Baghdad, but we can’t rebuild New Orleans? We can engage in nation-building, but we can build schools? We can care for the sick and wounded in war zones, but we can’t guarantee quality, affordable, and accessible health care to every American? We have the resources to extend tax cuts to the upper 2% of earners, but extended unemployment benefits have to be paid for?
We’ve allowed a compassion-deprived, self-absorbed, and self-interest minority in Congress to set the terms of the debate. The results of that debate paint a picture of leadership that cares for little save the interests and well-being of the wealthy. When did government become by, for, and of the wealthy? Well, given the preponderance of millionaires in Congress, I suppose it stands to reason that the interests of the haves would trump those of the have-nots.
I’m glad that Congress finally approved extending long-term unemployment benefits. On a personal level, that has direct and immediate benefits for me. Beyond that, though, what about those who have gone through the 99 weeks of benefits available? In an economy where there are five people to every job opening, are these unfortunate souls merely to be left to fend for themselves? After all, there are wars and tax cuts that have to be paid for, right?
If we can’t find it within ourselves to care for our own in the same way we care for our ability to wage war, then perhaps we no longer have any claim to anything resembling humanity. Perhaps it’s time to accept the reality that the social contract that has kept this country together through bad times has been shredded. Perhaps it’s time to recognize and understand that the unofficial American motto is now “I got mine; you can damn well get your own.”
WE DESERVE BETTER.
