Rep. Lee Adds Budget Amendment for Long-Term Unemployed

http://www.examiner.com/unemployment-in-denver/amendment-hr589-violates-house-rules-removed-from-fy2011-c-r?CID=examiner_alerts_article&cid=parsely#parsely

But the "UI Guy" says don't freak out except cal CALL!!! CALLLLL!!!!

The only thing we can do is continue to call our Representatives and have them support this bill.

So what does this mean. I am now going to the internet cafe. R we going to get help or not?????

Only the budget amendment was defeated. The actual bill, H.R. 589 is still in committee, that bill still needs Republican support.

The CR (Continuing Resolution) is the budget for the Federal government to allow government services to keep operating beyond March 5th. While HR 589 remains in committee, Rep Lee decided to add an amendment to the CR to add an unemployment extension to the budget but it failed.

I repeat, HR 589 has NOT been defeated.

Thank you, but how does HR589 put food on my table if it stays in committee. I hoped it would of passed as we all did. Just one more question Will It

It doesn't. This is why we need everyone to contact their representative and encourage them to support this bill. Without Republican support, the bill stands a strong possibility of not making it out of committee. If more Republicans sign on to support the bill, this means that it could move onto the floor of the House of Representatives so that it can be called up for a vote.

I have they do not even reply to me. I even wrote to The President

Normally they don't. The majority of elected officials will generally send out a form letter that talks about the recent related bills that they have passed along with indicating their support for the unemployed.

The one thing I do think is that while they do send out form letters, at least the Democrats retain the emails for when they get included in the congressional record during general debates.

kemcha wrote:Only the budget amendment was defeated. The actual bill, H.R. 589 is still in committee, that bill still needs Republican support.

The CR (Continuing Resolution) is the budget for the Federal government to allow government services to keep operating beyond March 5th. While HR 589 remains in committee, Rep Lee decided to add an amendment to the CR to add an unemployment extension to the budget but it failed.

I repeat, HR 589 has NOT been defeated.

Thanks for the clarification. What do you think are the odds of Republicans getting onboard the long term unemployed platform and working together with the Democrats rather than butting heads with them?

Well from all I hear, Repubs want to Stop all forums of spending, not sure where that will leave us.l

Where it stands now is that I think if Rep Lee cannot get any Republicans to sign on to the bill that she has already found some offsets for the bill. However, she still wants to introduce it as emergency funding.

The main reason she introduced it, however, is because there are a lot of unemployed exhaustees in her state and she's trying to hurry up and get Congress to pass this bill. She has some strong motivation to get it passed and with the elections coming up in 2012, if she can get it passed, she stands to get that support for the November elections.

Democrats are trying to build on whatever points they can gain with the voters and that could prove very helpful to the Democrats and dangerous to the Republicans if they continue to block the bill, even if they find the offsets. If she applies the offsets and Republicans still block the bill, it doesn't matter what excuse the Republicans come up with, they will feel that voter anger in 2012.

We had the same idea last November, that Dems were going to help us, and that was going to get them the votes. That didn't seem to work out that way. It is rather unfortunate that our plight has created us into becoming a political pawn for the bad guys (congress).

It would be nice if they just had sincere motives and desired to help us even at the risk of losing votes, not as a mean to gain votes.

steveninspokane wrote:We had the same idea last November, that Dems were going to help us, and that was going to get them the votes. That didn't seem to work out that way. It is rather unfortunate that our plight has created us into becoming a political pawn for the bad guys (congress).

It would be nice if they just had sincere motives and desired to help us even at the risk of losing votes, not as a mean to gain votes.

I couldnt agree more. Its frustrating feeling as if all we are is pawns in their little political agenda driven game of chess.

steveninspokane wrote:We had the same idea last November, that Dems were going to help us, and that was going to get them the votes. That didn't seem to work out that way. It is rather unfortunate that our plight has created us into becoming a political pawn for the bad guys (congress).

It would be nice if they just had sincere motives and desired to help us even at the risk of losing votes, not as a mean to gain votes.

Good points. And nevermind that while the unemployed and underemployed share similar economic woes, we still differ from one another politically, and are not very likely to be an actual dependable voting block for any type of political advantage. So we seem to be left to either plea for charity and/or convince them of the stimulant effect to the economy from unemployment extensions.

Injeun wrote:

steveninspokane wrote:We had the same idea last November, that Dems were going to help us, and that was going to get them the votes. That didn't seem to work out that way. It is rather unfortunate that our plight has created us into becoming a political pawn for the bad guys (congress).

It would be nice if they just had sincere motives and desired to help us even at the risk of losing votes, not as a mean to gain votes.

Good points. And nevermind that while the unemployed and underemployed share similar economic woes, we still differ from one another politically, and are not very likely to be an actual dependable voting block for any type of political advantage. So we seem to be left to either plea for charity and/or convince them of the stimulant effect to the economy from unemployment extensions.

That is why no one party fears the unemployed we are not a threat. Times are changing and I should say WERE not a threat. This is why we must unite and reach out to others.

From what I'm now hearing, Rep. Lee attempted to attach unemployment benefits to the budget for a second time and Republicans shot it down. I'll try and find the link to this ... will update in a second.

We are all wishing upon a star, and we will still be wishing on a star for years to come. We wait and wait for something to happen. If I had any money to bet with I say we lost. It is hard to fight someone that is still working has income coming in and has a full bank acct. So you choose, I choose not to be left out in the cold anymore. Emails get us no where. The Senators and Rep do not even reply to me anymore. So Y should I fight. Welfare turned me down, $16.00 a month in food stamps and no place to call home. NOW WHAT

getheminNOVEMBER wrote:

Injeun wrote:

steveninspokane wrote:We had the same idea last November, that Dems were going to help us, and that was going to get them the votes. That didn't seem to work out that way. It is rather unfortunate that our plight has created us into becoming a political pawn for the bad guys (congress).

It would be nice if they just had sincere motives and desired to help us even at the risk of losing votes, not as a mean to gain votes.

Good points. And nevermind that while the unemployed and underemployed share similar economic woes, we still differ from one another politically, and are not very likely to be an actual dependable voting block for any type of political advantage. So we seem to be left to either plea for charity and/or convince them of the stimulant effect to the economy from unemployment extensions.

That is why no one party fears the unemployed we are not a threat. Times are changing and I should say WERE not a threat. This is why we must unite and reach
out to others.

I agree I think that the branches of government should just do the right and pass aid for everyone out of the goodness of their hearts. I also wish for a world with nothing but blue skies and puppy dogs but the world just isn't that way. They call it politics for a reason. Aid for the 99ers is not a priority for the GOP because the mainstream America doesn't understand the problem. They mostly still think the 99ers are either getting aid from the extension that passed last year OR that they are lazy and just won't work. The GOP knows this isn't a big political issue yet because we don't make enough noise and they can choose to hurt the poor and working class more.
Anyone can choose to blame the democrats but if it had not been for the republicans 20 weeks would have been added last year. For whatever reason they were doing it, it is still more than the GOP is doing.

In 2 weeks I will be a 1 year exhaustee. During that time I thought at some point I would get added weeks. I no longer see any reason to believe it will happen now.

I'll be at three years ... many of us have been without unemployment benefits for nearly a year. I've sent emails to Senator Debbie Stabenow, and she's a U.S. Senator representing me, one of her constituents, and she doesn't even bother to return email replies anymore.

Well, Congress is out for a whole week while the unemployed continue to suffer. From what I heard, and I'll post the link to the news item, Rep Lee tried to attach the unemployment extension to the CR, but it was shot down by Republicans for a second time.

Apparently, she's not giving up:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20110220/us_ac/7901438_latest_99er_unemployment_extension_blocked_by_house_republicans