by Bruce Tyson

Created on: June 25, 2010

Legislation extending benefits to millions of jobless Americans failed to pass muster in the U.S. Senate Thursday, setting the stage for catastrophic human suffering as families are cut off from the trickle of funds that has kept them afloat during the economic crisis. Politicians opposing the bill say that they favor extending the benefits program but only if they do not add to the exploding federal budget deficit.

According to the Department of Labor, 6.8 million Americans have been out of work longer than 26 weeks and by the second week of July, 2 million of them will lose their benefits. Many Americans are feeling the effects of despair as the government seems unwilling to act to help those who have been affected by one of the worst employment climates in decades.

Senator Jim DeMint from the state of South Carolina, one of the hardest-hit states in the nation, says that he knows people who are suffering from the lapse in benefits and the unwillingness of the Senate to act. DeMint says that money from the stimulus bill should be used to fund the program rather than relying on deficit spending. Lindsey Graham, another Republican senator from South Carolina shares a similar view.

Although hope seems to be gone that Congress will act to save unemployment benefits before going on vacation, Senator DeMint says that he hopes checks will resume “within the next week or two,” indicating that a glimmer of hope remains to those who are living in distress. Florida’s Sun Sentinel reports that the next attempt at clearing the unemployment extension bill will bring benefits to the table alone, without being combined with other measures. The most recent bill rejected by the Senate, the American Workers, State, and Business Relief Act of 2010 (H.R. 4213), combined additional initiatives that were not directly related to the unemployment extension.

In a sign of growing desperation, many Americans who have lost their benefits are calling upon President Obama to sign an executive order that restores benefits. This movement is also hoping that Obama will order that an additional “Tier” of benefits be added to the program that would extend the duration of benefits beyond the current 99 week maximum.

Not all Americans are onboard when it comes to extending unemployment benefits. Utah Orin Hatch has been quoted as saying that the unemployed use the money to buy drugs, while others such as radio personality Rush Limbaugh suggest that the benefit program

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>