From the Desk of Representative Jim Dunnam

Please see the note below from my colleague in the Texas House, Representative Jim Dunnam of Waco.
- Garnet Coleman

March 1, 2010

As chair of the House Select Committee on Federal Economic Stabilization Funding, it's my job to monitor Washington, D.C. and keep Texas House members and Texans informed of federal actions that will impact them. Last week, the U.S. Senate was expected to pass legislation that would extend unemployment benefits, COBRA health insurance, as well as funds for the Highway Trust Fund and Medicaid reimbursements for physicians.

Because it's so urgent that the American people receive their unemployment benefits, the Senate was set to pass the bill through what's called "unanimous consent", which means everyone agrees to pass the bill. However, one Republican Senator from Kentucky, Jim Bunning, stood in the way and objected to its passage. Because of this one man roadblock, Texans and Americans across the country are set to lose their jobless aid today. Doctors are being instructed to not submit reimbursement claims under Medicaid for 10 days, to allow time to work around Senator Bunning's delays. Republican Senators have yet to reel in their colleague, and because of his publicity stunt, hundreds of thousands of Americans are feeling the pinch.

This epitomizes what it means to be from the Party of No, and shows how out of touch Senator Bunning and his Republican colleagues really are with the American people. Senate Democrats are scheduling a vote on the bill to go around the obstructionism and should be able to pass the legislation this week. In the meantime, this act of callous disregard will cause serious harm to Americans looking for work.

For your reference, below is an editorial from the New York Times, detailing the situation.



Clueless in Kentucky
Editorial February 27, 2010

Kentucky has lost about 60,000 jobs since the end of 2008. In December, its unemployment rate stood at 10.7 percent, the highest since 1983. So what exactly is going on in the minds of Kentucky's two Republican senators, Mitch McConnell and Jim Bunning?

This week, Mr. Bunning single-handedly shot down a one-month extension of unemployment benefits, along with a federal subsidy for the unemployed to maintain health coverage. Two weeks earlier, Mr. McConnell, the minority leader, objected to a one-week extension to give senators time to draft a longer-term package.

It should be a no-brainer to extend unemployment insurance when around 1 out of every 10 workers is unemployed. Standard unemployment benefits end at 26 weeks, yet 6.3 million workers have been out of work for more than 27 weeks. Congress has provided a series of extensions, and without another one, 400,000 people will lose their benefits in a matter of weeks.

Senator Bunning once cared about the unemployed. When the benefit was due to expire in November, he joined a unanimous vote to extend it until the end of February. "Kentucky has been hit hard by the current economic downturn," he said at the time. It still is, but Mr. Bunning refused to consider the extension unless it was paid for with funds from the fiscal stimulus plan. For years, Mr. Bunning didn't seem to have a problem with blowing up the deficit for the Iraq war and tax cuts. Now he's a deficit hawk when it comes to average Americans.

Maybe he's preoccupied. At one point during a debate on the issue Thursday night, he complained about missing the Kentucky-South Carolina basketball game.

Democrats must now defeat Republican attempts to lace the benefits extension with things like protecting the rich from the estate tax. To avoid a repeat of this nonsense every few weeks, unemployment benefits should be extended until the end of the year. Perhaps by Monday somebody can educate Senators Bunning and McConnell about Kentucky's unemployment rate.