Patterico's Pontifications

2/7/2014

Jobs Report Terrible; Meanwhile, Democrats Reject Measures Designed to Make Sure People Work

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 7:31 am



We have yet another dismal jobs report: only 113,000 new jobs added last month. It’s well short of what is needed to keep up with population growth, which means more and more unemployed people all the time. AP calls this “surprisingly weak,” but I have no idea why. The Democrat policymakers holding our economy hostage have demands, and all of them contribute to higher unemployment: extension of unemployment benefits, a higher minimum wage, and the biggest job killer of them all: ObamaCare.

Why, it’s almost as if they want an increasing number of unemployed people who will have to rely on the government for survival.

Crazy talk, you say? Then why are they opposing measures designed to make sure people actually work?

A second attempt to restore benefits for the long-term unemployed failed in the Senate on Thursday — just shy of clearing a key procedural hurdle.

The 58-40 cloture vote on the $6 billion measure to extend jobless aid (which lapsed at the end of December) for three months to roughly 1.7 million Americans delivered a blow to a key Obama administration agenda item, as the president pushed for an extension in his State of the Union address last month.

. . . .

“Rather than work with us to find common ground, the majority leader once again chose to reject our ideas and block action on amendments to improve and pay for this legislation,” said Republican Sen. Dan Coats, whose home state of Indiana has an unemployment rate above the national average. Coats proposed an amendment to bar the unemployed from receiving benefits if they turned down a job offer or chose not to apply for a job referred by the state employment agency.

So: Republicans are saying that people taking unemployment have to try to get jobs, and can’t turn them down if they are offered. And Democrats are rejecting that proposal. Why would that be?

Majority Leader Harry Reid pledged to bring the measure back again, and switched his vote to “no” in a procedural motion to return to the issue, which Democrats see as integral to their 2014 midterm messaging in light of favorable public opinion on extending the benefits.

Ah. Politics. No fun telling people that they have to actually try to get work, and take it if it’s offered.

So no, AP, it’s not “surprising” that unemployment is still a disaster under these people. Apparently, it’s all part of the plan.


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