Wow, suddenly another good story to hit the wires.
A bipartisan group of senators says they have reached a compromise extending jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed for five months.
If the Senate approves the deal, it would break a months-long stalemate over the issue in the chamber between the two parties.
Two leaders of the negotiations — Democratic Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island and Republican Sen. Dean Heller of Nevada — said in a statement that the deal would be retroactive to the end of last year. Since that time, jobless coverage has expired for roughly 2 million people.
The proposal would be paid for by extending some customs fees and changing how some companies set aside money for pensions, in effect increasing their taxes.
The deal also ends jobless payments to people earning over $1 million.
The package is set to pass the Senate when they return. And because Senate Republicans are backing it, it will put pressure on the nuts in the House to pass it. However, the House Teabirchers as usual seem to be opposed to it.
A Senate deal is still far from guaranteed to pass the House, where Republicans have expressed opposition to extending the benefits. House Speaker John Boehner has insisted he will not bring an unemployment-insurance fix to the floor unless it is fully paid for and also includes a separate job-creation provision.
It will pass the House if Republicans are worried they'll be punished in November for not passing it. It certainly won't happen because they have compassion or even because it will help the economy to put money in these people's hands. If they cared about that they wouldn't have cut them off in January.
I'm sure they'll want several pounds of flesh in return --- they understand how to leverage decency and humanity for their own purposes. But it could happen. Maybe.
Rep. Boehner will pass it if he knows they would pay a price for not helping out the working class. And they should pay a damn, big price for their horrible actions when it comes to working class families.
