Cutting Their Own Throats

The Democrats just tanked their own jobs bill in the Senate.  At this point, the Dems are in serious, serious trouble in November.

Lurking beneath deficit concerns, for both Republicans and even some Democrats, is the suspicion that extended unemployment benefits discourage job-seeking. Rep. John Linder (R-Ga.) said last Thursday, for instance, that extended unemployment benefits are "too much of an allure" for people to look for work. Even Senate Democrats who voted in favor of the bill, such as Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), are starting to look toward winding down the programs.

"We have 99 weeks of unemployment insurance," Feinstein said. "The question comes, how long do you continue before people just don't want to go back to work at all?"

Needless to say, no help is forthcoming from Congress for the 99ers, the several million people who will have exhausted all available benefits by the end of the year.

Judy Conti, a lobbyist for the National Employment Law Project, pointed out that a NELP-commissioned poll showed that 74 percent of registered voters think preserving jobless aid is more important than reducing the deficit at this time (a view shared by many economists).

"I fail to see how eviscerating a bill that is designed to create and save jobs, and support the unemployed, is going to do anything but increase our overall deficit problems," said Conti. "This approach is penny-wise and pound-foolish, and those who are not out there actively supporting job creation and the unemployed should be ashamed of themselves."

Republicans are expected to offer a version of the extenders bill with funding offsets from the stimulus bill, and Democrats may then offer a more scaled-down version that is less burdensome on the deficit. Part of that scaling-down will involve cutting $25 per week from unemployment checks and shortening the amount of time Medicare doctors are protected from the 21 percent pay cut. 

And people actually wonder why the number of enthusiastic Democratic voters has dropped like a stone.  Good luck in 2010 Dems, you're going to need it.  As BooMan reminds us:

Democratic Sens. Bayh, Begich, Feingold, Kohl, Landrieu, Lieberman, McCaskill, Menendez, both Nelsons, Pryor, and Webb voting 'no.' Blanche Lincoln didn't vote. 

Funny, there are a lot of Democrats who think that not voting is looking better and better.