Republicans Show True Colors Blocking Unemployment Benefit Extension
by UAW Region 8 Webmaster and LUPA Advisory Council Chair John Davis
True colors – how you really feel. Well the Republicans have been showing their true colors lately. The anti-working family folks in Washington are so confident they are regaining control of the country this fall they have let down the facade and are strutting their disdain for the working class while holding up the wealthy.
On July 20, 2010 the Democrats were successful in finally securing 60 votes to break a Republican filibuster that has been blocking extending unemployment benefits for 2.5 million Americans who have seen their unemployment benefits exhausted. This extension cost 33 billion dollars and the Republicans have been  shouting about extending the deficit. However, the same Republicans who are against adding 33 billion to the deficit for unemployment benefits are pushing the President to extend the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy which will add over 300 billion to the deficit and not a single Republican has a problem with that.
President Obama promised to let the tax cuts expire for wealthiest Americans when campaigning for the presidency. At the current time the President plans on extending those tax cuts for middle and lower class Americans while allowing those for the very wealthy to expire. According to Newsweek Republicans have vowed to use every congressional tactic to hold up the middle class tax cuts until the tax cuts for the wealthy are extended.
To put the Bush tax cuts into perspective, according to the Congressional Budget Office the top 400 families saw their tax rates reduced by 10% from 1995 through 2007. During the same period of time average families saw a reduction of .8% in their taxes. To make matters worse, average families saw their income grow 13.2 % from 1992 to 2007 while those top 400 families saw their income increase by 409%. In 2007 the average family recorded an income of $50,233 while the top 400 averaged an annual income of $345 million. So the Republicans support people whose incomes have soared while their tax rate has been cut significantly.
While the Republicans were thumbing their noses at unemployed families, they have also been busy feeling sorry for poor old BP who has destroyed the Gulf of Mexico. Back in June Congress held hearings on the Gulf oil spill. One of the things the White House has done is to ask BP to establish a $20 billion dollar fund to cover clean up and lost revenue for businesses along the coast. Republican Congressman Joe Barton of Texas apologized to BP CEO Tony Hayward for the government requiring them to pay for their mistake. Republican Tom Price of Georgia issued a similar statement. Republican Michele Bachmann speaking to the Heritage  Foundation in Washington stated the fund was “a redistribution of wealth fund” when actually the fund was designed to prevent the tax payers from having to pick up the tab for BP’s mistake. These Republicans think the tax payers should pay and let BP off the hook. Again, they are against 33 billion for unemployed families but are all for covering BP’s cost so their dividend sheets look better. Talking head Sarah Palin blamed environmentalist saying “if the oil companies could drill on land then they wouldn’t have to drill off shore.” It should be noted Palin’s husband works for BP and she advocated for opening up drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge during her failed stint as governor of Alaska.
So while working class Americans struggle to survive, the Republicans throw their full support behind the rich and affluent. According to a recent report by the Economic Policy Institute, 15 million Americans drew unemployment checks during the first half of 2010, with 10.2 million receiving unemployment checks as May ended. Over 2 million of these lost their benefits when Republican began stalling the extension of benefits in June. Over the past year over 21 million Americans have drawn unemployment checks. While the country lost 8.2 million jobs from the fourth quarter of 2007 through spring of 2010, corporate profits for the first quarter were at 1.59 trillion dollars. Workers lose jobs and corporations profit off it.
Republicans are so sure of themselves they are willing to show their true colors at the moment and show without question where their interest lies. If you punch a clock for a living, you are not who they are concerned with. Republicans have even snickered that unemployed people “don’t want a job - they are just playing the system.” Retiring Republican Senator from Kentucky Jim Bunning blocked extending unemployment benefits in February. When pressed by Democratic colleagues to consider those families Bunning replied “tough s**t.”
True colors, really say who a person is. Back in the 1980s singer Cyndi Lauper road a song called “True Colors” up the charts and featured a line that stated “don’t be afraid to let them show.” If Republicans regain control of the House and or Senate this fall, America’s working families have plenty to fear. Each working families should show their true colors by supporting candidates that support us.
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