While Not Much Good Can Be Said about the Democrats in Congress, the Republicans in the Senate Have Just Set a New Low that May Never Be Exceeded!

Blogger's Note: Below is a graph showing the cost to the government of the Bush tax cuts (in 2008) for the richest 1% of the population. 
The "compromise" that Obama has agreed to in order to extend unemployment benefits at a cost of $33 billion is a two-year extension of these tax cuts for the top 1% amounting to at least $160 billion.  And the fear is that once they "get their foot in the door" the GOP legislators will demand a full 10 year extension worth about $1 trillion!  But in the meantime Senate Republicans are denying the sick and dying 9/11 first responders compensation costing only $7.4 billion. Remember, these were the heroes who were lied to by Bush EPA Aministrator Christy Whitman about the supposed safety of breathing the dust.
"Compassionate conservatism" ...or "height of hypocrisy"?
Shame on them all!!! If I were a Republican, I'd be informing my Senator(s) that if they don't back off on these issues, they would not have my vote the next time they're up for reelection...

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Republicans Block U.S. Health Aid for 9/11 Workers

By RAYMOND HERNANDEZ

Published: December 9, 2010

WASHINGTON — Republican senators blocked Democratic legislation on Thursday that sought to provide medical care to rescue workers and others who became ill as a result of breathing in toxic fumes, dust and smoke at the site of the World Trade Center attack in 2001.

The 9/11 health bill, a version of which was approved by the House of Representatives in September, was among several initiatives that Senate Democrats had hoped to approve before the close of the 111th Congress. Supporters believe this was their last real opportunity to have the bill passed.

The action by the Senate created huge uncertainty over the bill’s future. Its proponents were working on Thursday to salvage the legislation, with one possibility being to have it inserted into a large tax-cut bill that Republicans and Democrats are trying to pass before Congress ends its current session.

Such a move seemed unlikely, since it might complicate passage of the tax package, which includes a provision that President Obama sought in return for backing the continuation of tax cuts for all income levels that Republicans wanted: an extension of unemployment benefits.

In a vote largely along party lines, the Senate rejected a procedural move by Democrats to end debate on the 9/11 health bill and to bring it to a vote; 60 yes votes were needed, but the move received 57, with 42 votes against.

Republicans have been raising concerns about how to pay for the $7.4 billion measure, while Democrats, led by Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand of New York, have argued that there was a moral obligation to assist those who put their lives at risk during rescue and cleanup operations at ground zero.

The bill is formally known as the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, named after a New York police detective who participated in the rescue efforts at ground zero. He later developed breathing complications that were common to first responders at the site, and he died in January 2006. The cause of his death became a source of debate after the city’s medical examiner concluded that it was not directly related to the attacks.

After the vote, Representative Carolyn B. Maloney of New York, a chief sponsor of the bill in the House, argued that Democrats should include the 9/11 health bill in the larger tax-cut legislation and, in the process, dare Republicans to oppose it in that context. Ms. Maloney added that the tax bill was the one piece of legislation that “Republicans won’t leave this town without passing.”

As the day wore on, it appeared increasingly unlikely that the Senate would include a provision providing health care for ground zero workers in any tax package it brought to the floor, according to senior Capitol Hill officials. But supporters of the 9/11 legislation said there was a possibility they could persuade Democratic leaders in the House to include it in any tax-cut plan that the chamber approved and win Senate approval during negotiations over differences in measures passed by the two chambers.

The Senate action was a blow to sponsors of the bill, who mobilized a network of allies across the political spectrum to lobby on its behalf, including the New York City police commissioner, Raymond W. Kelly, and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. Ms. Gillibrand, the chief sponsor in the Senate, even reached out to former President George W. Bush. But her aides say Mr. Bush did not respond to her entreaties.

In a statement, the mayor chastised Senate Republicans for their “wrongheaded political strategy” and called on them to allow a floor vote on the bill. “The attacks of 9/11 were attacks on America,” he said, “and we have a collective responsibility to care for the heroes, from all 50 states, who answered the call of duty, saved lives and helped our nation recover.”

The bill calls for providing $3.2 billion over the next eight years to monitor and treat injuries stemming from exposure to toxic dust and debris at ground zero. New York City would pay 10 percent of those health costs.

The bill would also set aside $4.2 billion to reopen the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund to provide payments for job and economic losses.

In addition, the bill includes a provision that would allow money from the Victim Compensation Fund to be paid to any eligible claimant who receives a payment under the settlement of lawsuits that 10,000 rescue and cleanup workers recently reached with the city.

Now, those who receive a settlement from the city are limited in how much compensation they can get from the fund, according to the bill’s sponsors.

There are nearly 60,000 people enrolled in health monitoring and treatment programs related to the 9/11 attacks, according to the sponsors of the bill. The federal government provides the bulk of the money for those programs.

If the bill is not adopted by the current Congress, its supporters will have start over again next year. With Republicans set to take control of the House, passing the bill in that chamber will be extremely difficult, the bill’s supporters say. That is a large part of the reason backers of the measure were pleading with Senate leaders to get it passed by this Congress.

A version of this article appeared in print on December 10, 2010, on page A28 of the New York edition.

Obama and Democrats in Congress want to extend unemployment benefits, but Republicans say the federal deficit can't bear the $33 billion cost. However, they are offering this compromise: They will allow extention of unemployment benefits in return for a two-year extention of tax cuts for the richest 1% ...worth about $130 billion!!! (Compassionate conservatism?)

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The American Jobs Emergency

By Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Blog

04 December 10

The American Jobs Emergency Requires Action

his is not a recovery. It's a continuing jobs emergency and it demands action.

We learned this morning that unemployment rose to 9.8 percent in November and employers added only 39,000 jobs. Private employers added 50,000 - the smallest gain since January. Government employment continued to shrink.

We're heading in the wrong direction. In October, the jobless rate was 9.6 percent, and employers added 172,000 jobs. Private-sector job growth totaled 160,000.

At this rate unemployment won't return to its pre-recession level for more than a decade, if ever.

Over 15 million Americans were jobless in November. This doesn't include those who are working part-time but would prefer to work full time. Nor does it include a record 1.3 million who are too discouraged even to look for work.

Nor does it take account of the fact that most families are dependent on two breadwinners. So to figure out the true impact on most families, all these numbers have to be doubled.

Nor does it reflect the fact that the level of unemployment tracks level of education. Only 5 percent of those with college degrees are now unemployed, while more than 20 percent of everyone else is without work.

Maybe that's why Washington doesn't get it. The Washington echo chamber is filled with college degrees.

The Big Money economy on Wall Street and in corporate suites doesn't get it, either. They're doing marvelously well because they're tied to rapidly-growing markets in China, India and Brazil.

But the Average Worker economy on Main Street continues to wallow.

The Problem

Let's be clear about this. The problem is lack of sufficient demand for workers.

There are only four sources of demand. The biggest source is American consumers, who comprise about 70 percent of economic activity.

But the vast American middle and working class can't and won't buy enough to get people back to work. They're still under a huge debt load.

Even if and when they pay it off, their buying days are gone. The Great Recession took away their last means of coping with years of stagnant wages - going deeper into debt by using their homes as collateral. The housing bubble burst, and home prices continue to drop.

The second source of domestic demand is business. But businesses won't hire more workers without more customers.

(Republican supply-siders say businesses are not hiring because they're uncertain about the effects of the new healthcare law and don't know how much taxes they'll have to pay. This is political claptrap. Supply-siders also say businesses would start hiring if their taxes were lower. But businesses are sitting on almost a trillion dollars of cash. They don't need lower taxes in order to hire more Americans. They need more American customers.)

The third source of domestic demand is net exports. But they're going nowhere. Although China, India and Brazil are buying goods and services from American companies - and thereby boosting US profits - those US companies are making most of what they sell there in those countries. GM is selling more cars in China than in the US now, and manufacturing them in China.

That leaves the fourth source of domestic demand - government. But it's not nearly filling the gap. To the contrary, state and local governments are broke, and are cutting spending and raising taxes to the tune of over $110 billion this year. The federal government's much-maligned stimulus is about gone (almost all economists believe it saved over 3 million jobs).

The Fed is pumping $600 billion into the economy, but without an expansive fiscal policy this is only fueling speculation.

Instead, austerity and deficit reduction are the new buzz-words in Washington, as well as in Europe - which is absurd given what's happening to the economy.

Republicans won't even vote to extend unemployment benefits for the record number of Americans - almost half the unemployed - who have been out of work for six months or more. Starting today, 800,000 of the long-term unemployed lose their benefits. Unless Congress moves quickly, by the end of December, 2 million more will lose them.

What Must Be Done

Extend unemployment benefits. Not only do unemployment benefits help families who are hurting; they also put money into their pockets that they'll then spend - and their spending will keep other Americans in jobs.

I was on television yesterday debating a Republican who insisted unemployment benefits deter the jobless from finding work. Another partisan bromide. When, as now, five people are out of work for every job opening - and when, as now, unemployment benefits in most states are a small fraction of someone's former wage - it's bizarre to argue that unemployment benefits are causing unemployment.

Create a new WPA and National Infrastructure Bank. Not only do we need extended unemployment benefits. We need a new WPA, modeled after the WPA of the Great Depression, to put jobless Americans to work. We need a national infrastructure bank to rebuild our crumbling highways and water and sewer systems, thereby putting additional people back to work.

Cut payroll taxes and enlarge the EITC. We should exempt the first $20,000 of income from the payroll tax, thereby putting more money into the pockets of lower-wage workers - which they'll spend. We should extend the Earned Income Tax Credit - a wage subsidy - upward through the middle class, and reduce taxes on everyone up to $80,000 of income.

How to pay for this. Not in 70 years has so much of the nation's income been at the very top. Pay for all of this with a 2% surcharge on incomes between $1 million and $2 million, a 3% surcharge on incomes between $2 million and $5 million, and a 5% surcharge on all incomes over $5 million. Add in a .5 percent transaction tax on all financial transactions.

Why Would Republicans and Conservative Dems Ever Agree?

They'll agree to measures like this when they understand that our choice is either such reforms or continued economic stresses for millions of American families - stresses that will translate into an ever angrier and more divisive politics.

(When I wrote my new book, "Aftershock," I hoped what I saw unfolding would not become the new reality. It is.)

They'll agree when they see that we can not go back to the old "normal" of an unprecedented concentration of income and wealth at the top, because that old normal got us into the present fix.

It undermines the purchasing power of the rest of America. It invites speculation on Wall Street.

And it translates into extraordinary political power of a moneyed elite hell-bent on gaining even more power and wealth, and preventing the rest of America from flourishing.

But why would this moneyed elite ever agree? They'll agree when they understand this is a lousing strategy even for them.

Those at the top would do better with a smaller share of a booming economy that elicits a positive politics, than they will do with an ever-larger share of an anemic economy that fuels the politics of anger.

They should convey this message to their bought-for representatives in Congress.

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Robert Reich is Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley. He has served in three national administrations, most recently as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton. He has written twelve books, including "The Work of Nations," "Locked in the Cabinet," "Supercapitalism" and his latest book, "AFTERSHOCK: The Next Economy and America's Future." His 'Marketplace' commentaries can be found on publicradio.com and iTunes.