Remember in November: GOP Blocking, Cutting Unemployment Benefits

If you have lost your job, or if you know someone who has lost their job - maybe a friend of family member - remember who kicked you when you were down.

Here in Vermont the Douglas/Dubie Administration and its allies are doing everything it can to balance the unemployment fund on the backs of laid off workers and working people. The Administration has been pushing to cut benefits to unemployed workers and their families for months. Meanwhile, a bill introduced in the Senate with Republican backing has proposed both cuts to benefits and a tax to be levied on all Vermont workers to pay for the failure of employers to keep up contributions for the last quarter century. This is akin to taxpayers bailing out Wall Street for its failure to observe even the most basic tenets of fiscal responsibility.

If you want conclusive proof of just how bad things have got with respect to the GOP's view of those who have lost their jobs in the Bush-Douglas recession, look no further than the poster-boy for anti-worker sentiment, Sen. Jim Bunning of Kentucky. Never mind that unemployment rates in Kentucky are 10.4% and rising as of December. Bunning has repeatedly blocked efforts to extend unemployment benefits to millions of struggling unemployed families across America.



It's reprehensible. And, he knows it. Later, when ABC News attempted to question Sen. Bunning about his votes against extending these essential benefits, he refused to elaborate and then gave the astonished reporters the finger. The only reason someone would get that defensive about a vote is because he knows it is not a principled vote. You can check out the story and video here.

So, when election time rolls around and you're wondering who's got your back if you lose your job... remember it was the GOP who said no to benefits for laid off workers and their families. That includes the Douglas/Dubie Administration that has aggressively pushed for benefit cuts in Vermont.