Last Thursday every Republican in the Senate voted to block a jobs bill that would have extended unemployment benefits to Americans who have been out of work for more than six months and extended several tax breaks that would help both small businesses and families.
Republicans are apparently too busy insulting Americans to show any type of real leadership by passing bills that would help real people.
Senator John Kyl Republican from Arizona said that extending unemployment benefits “doesn’t create new jobs, in fact if anything, continuing to pay people unemployment compensation is a disincentive for them to seek new work.”
Congressman Heller (R) (NV-2) questioned extending unemployment benefits asking, “is the government now creating hobos?”
Perhaps the most disgusting statement came from Lt. Governor Andre Bauer (R) of South Carolina who said, “My grandmother …told me as a small child to quit feeding stray animals. You know why? Because they breed. You’re facilitating the problem if you give an animal or a person an ample food supply. They will reproduce, especially ones that don’t think too much further than that. And so what you’ve got to do is you’ve got to curtail that type of behavior. They don’t know any better.”
Are these repulsive statements what the Republicans call leadership? Saying that Americans who should be receiving the benefits they are owed are too lazy to look for work and calling Americans who have lost their jobs, hobos or stray animals is symbolic of an attitude of disrespect that is rampant throughout the Republican party.
Republicans claim that they voted against helping Americans because they didn’t want to add to the deficit. But, given the opportunity to give tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans under President Bush’s tax cut plan, Republicans had no problem adding trillions of dollars onto the deficit. So, drastically increasing our debt is okay, but only when it helps those with the most, now that’s hypocrisy.
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