House Democrats Introduce A Bill To Help 99ers

House Democrats Introduce A Bill To Help 99ers
By Yashwanth Manjunath The 99ers are people who have exhausted the full 99 weeks of Unemployment Benefits without being able to find work. These are hard-working Americans who had jobs prior to the Financial Meltdown caused by the rapacious greed of the wealthiest and Most Powerful in the country. Right now there are  roughly five unemployed workers for every available job. That means that for 80% of the unemployed there simply are no jobs available no matter how hard they try. The Obama-McCo...

Distorting the tax policy debate (Rep. Ron Paul)
George Orwell warned us about the use of “meaningless words” in politics, words that are endlessly repeated by sloganeering politicians until they have no meaning at all. Meaningless words certainly were on display during last week’s congressional debate over the latest tax bill. Over and over again we heard trite, empty phrases like “Tax Cuts for the wealthiest 2 percent,” “tax giveaways,” “tax Earmarks,” and “borrowing money to give to Milliona

Barbara Lee, Bobby Scott Introduce Bill For 99ers
WASHINGTON — Democratic Reps. Barbara Lee (Calif.) and Bobby Scott (Va.) introduced Legislation Friday that would provide additional assistance to "99ers" — people who've exhausted 99 weeks of Unemployment Benefits without finding work. "The economic downturn has been devastating for all of us — however, it has been particularly devastating for those who for the past two years have been out of work known as the 99ers," said Lee in a statement Friday, after the president sign...

Hoyer still 'hopeful' House can pass 9/11 first-responders health bill this week
A top House Democrat said Tuesday that Legislation providing healthcare services for 9/11 Rescue Workers is still on track for a House vote this week. After talks with bill supporters in the Senate, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said he remains hopeful the upper chamber will send the proposal back to the House "by tonight or early tomorrow morning." Hoyer said he spoke Tuesday morning with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), a lead sponsor of the Senate Bill, to discuss plans for f...

Question #10 for 2011: Monetary Policy
by CalculatedRisk on 12/21/2010 12:57:00 PM Over the weekend I posted some questions for next year: Ten Economic Questions for 2011. I'll try to add some predictions, or at least some thoughts for each question - working backwards - before the end of year. Remember, I have no crystal ball and I'm sure many people will disagree. Also many of the questions are interrelated. The question on Monetary Policy depends on Inflation (question #9) and the Unemployment Rate (question #6). And the unemplo...

Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 passes
(Dan here: I am traveling right now and am posting things late or maybe not as tidy as I would like. But posts are coming.) by Linda Beale Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 passes crossposted with Ataxingmatter No big surprise here.  The House on December 16 passed the Senate-approved TRA by a vote of 277-148, clearing it for the President's signature.  The bill extends the Bush Tax Cuts for two years and reduces the number of estates ...

Obama's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year
(12-20) 21:11 PST WASHINGTON, (AP) -- Barack Obama's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year got off to a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad start. There he was, on New Year's Day, on Vacation with his family in Hawaii, stuck on a secure phone with Counterterrorism officials, trying to figure out what screw-ups had allowed a would-be Terrorist to board a Christmas Day flight with explosives in his underwear. Things only got worse for Obama when he returned to Washington in between a pair...

1 in 7 Americans rely on food stamps
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The use of Food Stamps has increased dramatically in the U.S., as the Federal Government ramps up basic assistance to meet the demands of an increasingly desperate population. The number of food stamp recipients increased 16% over last year. This means that 14% of the population is now living on food stamps. That's about 43 million people, or about one out of every seven Americans. Email Print Comment In some states, like Tennessee, Mississippi, New Mexico and Oregon,...

1 in 7 Americans rely on food stamps
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The use of Food Stamps has increased dramatically in the U.S., as the Federal Government ramps up basic assistance to meet the demands of an increasingly desperate population. The number of food stamp recipients increased 16% over last year. This means that 14% of the population is now living on food stamps. That's about 43 million people, or about one out of every seven Americans. Email Print Comment In some states, like Tennessee, Mississippi, New Mexico and Oregon,...

Ticket Replay: Spending millions on signs advertising spending billions on Obama spending
During the Holiday Season, as in years past, The Ticket is republishing some of our favorite items from the previous political year. This story was originally published on July 15, 2010: You may have noticed signs like these in your community. Since his impossible schedule prohibits Vice President Joe Biden from making it around to every stimulus spending project across the country, the government has come up with the idea of posting project signs to show your $787 billion of hard-earned futur...

Senate Presents an Acceptable Continuing Resolution
Following the Democratic Senate’s recent failure to push through a massive, 1,924-page omnibus spending bill stuffed with runaway spending and pork, cooler heads seem to be prevailing. The Senate now appears poised to pass a basic continuing resolution that would freeze Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 Discretionary Spending at FY 2010 levels until March 4, when the next Congress will have the opportunity to pare back spending. Last week, a Heritage Foundation analysis stated that an acceptable continu...

Continuing Resolution Sets Up Battle on DC Abortion Funding
The Senate voted 82 to 14 today to invoked Cloture on Legislation to fund the government through March 4, 2011 after rejecting an omnibus funding bill containing several goodies for the Abortion industry. The Omnibus Bill Republicans stopped last week funded abortions with Taxpayer funds in the nation’s capital and contained increases in funding for pro-abortion groups like Planned Parenthood that engage in international family planning efforts. But the Continuing Resolution does not conta...

Cause for Canadians to worry? You betcha
Canada’s economic rebound out of Recession has run out of steam. Canadian real GDP posted a meagre 1 per cent annualized rate of growth in the Third Quarter, The Economy recorded a record high trade and current account Deficit of 4.2 per cent of GDP, and Job Creation virtually ground to a halt in the last quarter. And this despite government efforts to stimulate The Economy through infrastructure spending – which is scheduled to soon end. For a change, the U.S. economy outpaced Canad...

32 states borrow billions from feds to cover unemployment benefits...
BY MALIA ZIMMERMAN - Hawaii has applied to be the 32nd state to borrow from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration to pay state Unemployment Benefits. Hawaii will temporarily take up to $30 million this December to cover payments to the state’s 17,000 unemployed workers who lost their jobs within the last 26 weeks. That is the beginning of what will likely be an 18-month borrowing streak, says State Department of Labor and Industrial Relations Interim D...

Unemployment benefits extension in tax-cut deal only goes so far
While Bipartisan tax Legislation signed by President Obama on Friday reinstates Unemployment Benefits for about 1 million it doesn't provide any additional help for those who have exhausted all 99 weeks. The $858 billion measure provides for an extension of federal Unemployment Benefits through the end of 2011 but only for those who have exhausted their 26 weeks of state jobless Insurance or who are working their way through the federal tiers. The White House, Democratic lawmakers and advoca...

Hatch displays stunning lack of knowledge on unemployment insurance
Hopefully Orrin Hatch is reading the local, Capitol Hill news. Last week, he became one of the growing numbers of congresspeople who showed his vast ignorance on the topic of Unemployment Insurance. WASHINGTON -- Utah Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch said this week that extended Unemployment insurance "is well over 100 weeks now," making him the latest Millionaire member of Congress to publicly demonstrate that he does not understand the Unemployment Legislation he obstructs.... Hatch joins Sen.Joh...

Newt Gingrich Blames Nation's Problems On Unemployed People
Newt Gingrich, who is currently mulling a presidential bid in 2012, said at a political event in South Carolina on Thursday that most of America's problems can be blamed on the "leftist News Media," Hollywood, tenured academics, overpaid federal workers, and unemployed people. "I'm opposed to giving people money for doing nothing," he told the crowd of 250 cheering GOP Activists in a state with a 10.6 percent Unemployment Rate. The Los Angeles Times reports: Comparing Unemployment Benefits ...

Lame Duck Produces a Lame Economy
Floyd and Mary Beth Brow, FloydReports.com The Lame Duck Congress and President Obama are retarding the recovery. It’s tough medicine to medicine to swallow — ending Unemployment Benefits for people who have been out of work for three years — but it is necessary if we want recovery. The official U.S. Unemployment Rate has not been beneath 9 percent since April 2009, and it is unlikely to dip until much of the currently unemployed take jobs paying lower wages and benefits. Back in...

The political fights the president chooses
When a president tells Congressional members of his own party that his presidency depends on a bill's passage, said president is holding back nothing. He is laying himself bare. That President Obama reportedly did so for the extension of the Bush Tax Cuts, the first-ever reduction in Social Security funding, and but a year's worth of Unemployment Benefits, reveals his political desperation. It also puts the lie to the claim often made by some of the president's most ardent defenders that he is ...

ObamaCare: Scrap this flawed mess for real health fixes
Rep. Brian Bilbray (CA) published a piece today on ObamaCare. Read an excerpt here: During the recent election, the American People spoke clearly, saying that their elected representatives had failed to focus on the most important issue facing them and their families: jobs. Instead of focusing on Job Creation to put back to the work the 14.8 million unemployed Americans, 167,000 of them here in San Diego – which means that one out of every 10 employable San Diegans is out of work – C...

Tom Coburn To Block 9/11 Responders Bill
Source: The Huffington Post Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) plans to block Legislation that would provide additional aid to cover the Health Care costs of 9/11 First Responders, one of the senator's aides told The Wall Street Journal Tuesday morning. Senate Republicans have opposed the measure, also called the Zadroga bill, first over concerns that it would take precedence over a plan to extend the Bush Tax Cuts -- a deal that has since been reached -- and now due to issues with the cost-control measu...

A New Bill for 99ers, But Is It Too Late?
With very few days left in the 111th session of Congress, Rep. Barbara Lee [D, CA-9] and Rep. Bobby Scott [D, VA-3], both members of the Congressional Black Caucus, have introduced new Legislation to provide relief to unemployed workers who have exhausted all available Insurance benefits and are still unemployed (i.e. the “99ers”). The bill, H.R. 6556 , would not add a fifth tier of federal benefits. Instead, it would extend the length of the first tier of benefits from 20 weeks to 3...

Steve Israel, New DCCC Chairman, Set To Go On 'Offense' For House Democrats
The Washington Post: Steve Israel is doing everything he can to put last month's midterms behind him - and fast. Read the whole story: The Washington Post Get HuffPost Politics On Twitter and Facebook! Subscribe to the HuffPost Hill newsletter! Know something we don't? E-mail us at [email protected] ...

Steve Israel, new DCCC chairman, ready to go on 'offense' for House Democrats
Steve Israel is doing everything he can to put last month's midterms behind him - and fast. This Story Steve Israel, new DCCC chairman, ready to go on 'offense' for House Democrats Live video Q&A;, 11 a.m. ET: Chris Cillizza Monday Fix: The GOP top 10 for 2012, Thune's possible warning shot for Romney Obama reaches out to liberal groups to shore up Democratic Base after tax deal View All Items in This Story View Only Top Items in This Story "You cannot win an uphill battle by looking over...

Happy Holidays to the Super Rich
Happy Holidays to the Super Rich Tuesday, 12/21/2010 - 12:54 pm by Bryce Covert | Post a Comment Are you in the top of Income Distribution in the US? Then happy holidays! You just got a nice fat gift from your government. Roosevelt Institute Senior Fellow Thomas Ferguson talked to the Real News Network about President Obama’s Tax Cut deal with the Republicans, which he just signed into law. Who comes out on top in that bargain? Tom says, “The super rich. That’s obvious.̶...