by Bill Scher | Feb 6, 2014 | Unemployment Benefits
Republicans today ended all doubt: They do not want to help the long-term unemployed. Given a bill that would help for a mere three extra months without adding to the deficit, Republicans refused to let the majority rule and filibustered the legislation. If only one...
by Bill Scher | Feb 6, 2014 | Unemployment Benefits
Today Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is expected to call a vote on a new compromise bill to retroactively provide and extend unemployment insurance for the long-term unemployed. In this version, Reid and the Democrats have met the Republican demands, yet...
by Robert Borosage | Feb 5, 2014 | Economy, Progressive Vision, The Jobs Challenge, The New Populism
One day after President Barack Obama called for moving forward on trade authority in his State of the Union address, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) declared, “I am against fast track,” and said he had no intention of bringing it to a vote in the Senate....
by Dave Johnson | Feb 4, 2014 | Unemployment Benefits
Senate Republicans have been using the filibuster to block the extension of long-term unemployment benefits. There are rumors of a "deal" that gives Republicans a payoff to stop obstructing the extension. The price this time is "pension smoothing," which means letting...
by Bill Scher | Feb 3, 2014 | Minimum Wage
[fve]http://youtu.be/UJ9eylkiVx8[/fve] Today, the Democratic National Committee's Organizing For America operation fired the first shots in the minimum wage fight, a national cable ad with the message "Congress: Give America a Raise." The ad amounts to a warning shot,...
by Clyde Prestowitz | Jan 31, 2014 | Economy, The Jobs Challenge, Trans-Pacific Partnership
In his State of the Union message, President Obama suggested apprenticeships, tax reductions on new investments, and building new infrastructure as ways to increase jobs and reduce inequality in America. But he said virtually nothing about what is probably the single...
