{"id":1587,"date":"2014-01-07T14:50:50","date_gmt":"2014-01-07T19:50:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/?p=1587"},"modified":"2014-01-07T14:50:50","modified_gmt":"2014-01-07T19:50:50","slug":"can-we-get-help-for-the-unemployed-out-of-the-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/can-we-get-help-for-the-unemployed-out-of-the-house\/","title":{"rendered":"Can We Get Help for the Unemployed Out Of the House?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the course of a worthy rumination<\/a> on how we might get some relief for Americans who still need unemployment assistance, Jonathan Chait gives us as clear an explanation as I’ve seen of how the GOPs pretense of deficit concern is used (Emphasis<\/strong> added):<\/p>\n

\n

\"a_560x375\"<\/a>…To simply extend unemployment benefits would \u201cadd to the deficit in an irresponsible way,\u201d complains Republican Senator Mark Kirk. Boehner has made similarly\u00a0noncommittal noises<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

\n

This isn\u2019t a genuine expression of concern for the size of the deficit. When Republicans actually care about a policy that adds to the deficit, they just pass it and put it on the credit card. That\u2019s how they passed the immensely costly extension of the expiring Bush tax cuts. For that matter, that\u2019s how they passed every deficit-increasing measure during the entire time they controlled the government under Bush \u2013 wars, tax cuts, drug benefits, energy subsidies, surges\u00a0\u2014 they put them all on the tab. Demanding an offset is how you stop a policy you don\u2019t care about without having to admit you don\u2019t care about it.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Jonathan goes on to explain how we might extort some responsible behavior out of the GOP-controlled House (“the House, the pit of despair where even the most uncontroversial and sane legislation goes to die”). \u00a0Read his idea<\/a>. \u00a0It might work.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n