Sen. Jim Bunning, the Republican from Kentucky whom Democrats love to blame for preventing passage of an extension of unemployment benefits, again blocked the Senate from taking up the measure on Tuesday.
Bunning objected to a request from fellow Republican, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, to pass a 30-day extension of jobless benefits and other expired measures included in a $10-billion spending bill. Bunning, who is retiring from the Senate, has said he supports the bill’s goals but is opposing the measure until it is fully funded without increasing the federal deficit.
In a one-person filibuster, Bunning has blocked the bill that, in addition to extending benefits, would also fund highway projects and prevent a big cut in Medicare payments to doctors. Thousands of workers on federal transportation projects have been furloughed and 41 transportation projects around the country have been suspended. About 100,000 people have seen their benefits expire.
While everyone expects Senate leaders to eventually heal the damage and pass the bill, the filibuster has become a good issue for Democrats to argue that the GOP is callous and unfeeling in dealing with U.S. economic woes. Even some moderate Republicans, like Collins, have been upset with Bunning’s one-person crusade.
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IMPACT:
*Floridians to lose benefits today
*27,000 Texans out of luck
*Road projects throughout Tennessee stopped
*Unemployed Marylanders steamed at Senator Bunning
*Bunning's own constituents call him out
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