wrightandleftreport.com

Senator Jim Bunning, R-(KY):

Last week, Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., asked to pass a 30-day extensions bill for unemployment insurance and other federal programs. Earlier in February, those extensions were included in a broader bipartisan bill that was paid for but did not meet Sen. Reid’s approval, and he nixed the deal. When I saw the Democrats in Congress were going to vote on the extensions bill without paying for it and not following their own Pay-Go rules, I said enough is enough.

Many people asked me, “Why now?” My answer is, “Why not now?” Why can’t a non-controversial measure in the Senate that would help those in need be paid for? If the Senate cannot find $10 billion to pay for a measure we all support, we will never pay for anything.

Hmm.  Jim Bunning, after years of being fiscally irresponsible, has decided to push the restraint button.  Too bad it’s a toothless, arrogant, and disingenuous act.  Too bad his new position on fiscal responsibility wasn’t reached during our Iraq war years– where the cost is approaching 3 trillion dollars– and it still isn’t paid for.  Bunning is right.  Enough is enough.  Here is why Bunning and his ilk have no clue as to what Americans really want:

1)  Supporters of Bunning on the right actually believe he is sticking to his principles.  He has no principles.  He is a retiring senator, not beholden to anyone or anything.  The principled stand would have been him enacting this arcane senate procedural move when he had a skin in the game, so to speak.  Here’s the response from a conservative blogger on RedState:

“Last night, while most Americans were watching the Olympics, Senator Jim Bunning (R-KY) was standing strong for the American people on the floor of the United States Senate. Oh, it won’t be portrayed as such — believe me.” The post further stated: “Bunning took to the floor to object to a unanimous consent request to call up and pass the House-passed extension of a number of expiring so-called ‘stimulus’ and other benefit programs, because Bunning dared to ask the simple question of how these extensions would be paid for.”

2) Do these people firmly believe that people would rather stay home and collect 297 dollars, rather than work?  Think about this:  would you be comfortable making so much money a week– knowing that you had a mortgage payment, a car payment, expensive cobra payments?  Nothing says security like expiring benefits.  I know of no one happy to accept unemployment insurance.  The fact of the matter is that have to accept it, or risk drowning in a sea of uncertain fiscal devastation.  If your idea of “motivation,” is to wean honest, hard-working Americans off of the one avenue enabling them to survive in this hellish economy– then you are intellectually lacking, and morally bankrupt.  Congratulations.

3) I think one of the roles of government that most people can can agree upon is that in times of crisis; war, natural disasters, economic downturns– the government can and should provide the blanket protection the country needs.  In these times, responsive leadership is not only necessary, but essential.  While the politics of a jobs bill, or expansion of unemployment insurance can be debated, they should not be.  The objective is to provide the people with the services necessary to survive when they need them most.

The example of unemployment is just anpther illustration of what ails the party in its attempts to connect with the American people.

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