Fox News ReportsHow 2 million Americans lost their jobless benefits in an election year
Keeping unemployment benefits flowing for millions of workers whose jobs were eaten by the recession should have been a slam dunk in an election year.
But until this month, Senate Democrats have been unable to bring themselves to pass a simple bill that just does it. Instead they've demanded a series of unrelated and often controversial tax and spending add-ons that have enabled Republicans to mount successful filibusters.
Now that the legislation has been shorn of all the extras, the bill could win final passage soon. It can't come soon enough for more than 2 million people whose checks have been cut off in a five-month impasse in which there's plenty of blame to go around:
Democrats and their leaders made several decisions that in retrospect look like miscalculations, like pulling the rug out from under a bipartisan measure launched back in February and loading a subsequent bill with $24 billion for governors guaranteeing that most Republicans would vote against it.
Republican moderates voted one way in March to help the bill pass but changed their minds just weeks later, having gotten religion from GOP leaders and tea partiers on the budget deficit.
Greg Flahive of Flahive Law Corporation comments that unfortunately more and more residents of California will be forced to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy relief. "We are seeing Californians needing to file for bankruptcy in order to discharge overwhelming credit card debt, medical expenses, repossession, and lawsuit judgments. A Chapter 7 bankruptcy can effectively eliminate all of these unsecured debts."
Mr. Flahive can be reached at 877-FLAHIVE or my visiting http://www.FlahiveLawCorporation.com for more information. Chapter 7 bankruptcy relief starts at just $995.