Sunday, July 18, 2010
Editorial: Obstructionists block benefits
There are far more unemployed people than jobs, yet Congress won't extend benefits.
From the RoundTable blog
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Never before in times of such persistently high joblessness has Congress simply walked away from the unemployed.
But skittish Democrats worried about a backlash from growing deficits have combined with Republican obstructionists to keep Congress from doing what it has always done before in similar economic situations: Extend federal unemployment benefits.
Congressional Republicans have many excuses for their opposition. Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., said extending unemployment benefits would only encourage the jobless to stay that way. Never mind the fact that there are currently five unemployed people for every job opening across the nation or that unemployment benefits are meager.
Or they say that they will go along with the $30 billion price tag for extending the benefits only if it is paid for by cuts elsewhere -- though they demand no such preconditions for the $678 billion cost of extending President Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy over the next 10 years.
Democrats should be making a big deal about this, but they're skittish themselves about growing deficits.
They should know that one of the biggest drivers of the current deficit is a decline in revenue caused by the economic slowdown.
Throwing millions of Americans off unemployment will only exacerbate that problem. Unemployment benefits are among the most effective of stimulative spending.
Even deficit hawks -- such as officials with the Concord Coalition and Doug Elmendorf, director of the Congressional Budget Office -- who have expressed grave misgivings about the nation's fiscal trajectory agree that short-term spending on unemployment benefits and other stimulus efforts is economically sound.
Despite Democratic nervousness, most polls show that the American people get it as well. They are more concerned about jobs and the economy right now than the deficit.
At least in the short-term, that's where Congress's concern should lie as well.
