Political Quotes

“last night's vote to block emergency unemployment insurance was, I am sorry to say, what goes on and has been going on for a number of years here. It was blocked by the Republicans. It is really a tragedy for millions of Americans who are relying on Congress to help them get through these hard times. Today's long-term unemployment is double what it was at any other time Congress has allowed emergency benefits to lapse. Yet Republicans refuse even to allow an up-or-down vote on our plan to restore benefits to 1.5 million Americans, and there are 2.3 million children. I thought we had satisfied every complaint and demand my Republican colleagues made throughout the week. They said they wouldn't vote on an extension which would provide an average of $300 a week to families struggling to get by unless the bill was paid for. So we proposed an offset. That wasn't unique for us. It was originally proposed by Congressman Paul Ryan, chairman of the Budget Committee in the House and the Republican candidate for Vice President in the last election. Then Republicans said they couldn't vote for an extension of unemployment insurance without reforms to the program. We also did that. What we did will prevent double dipping and reduce the number of weeks recipients could receive unemployment benefits. Then Republicans said they couldn't vote to extend unemployment benefits unless they were allowed to offer amendments.…”