Republicans Block Hearing on Long-Term Jobless Benefits
Before leaving for recess, the Senate finally passed a bipartisan five-month extension of benefits for Americans who have been unemployed for six months or longer. Since the benefits lapsed at the beginning of 2014, more than 2 million workers have been affected, and the economy lost $3 billion in January and February alone.
Now the debate has shifted to the House, and this week Democrats are set to pressure Speaker John Boehner to take up the Senate bill. A fairly routine hearing of the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee was scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, where several prominent House Democrats would appear along with some long-term jobless Americans affected by the expiration.
But early Tuesday morning, hours before the scheduled hearing, Republican leadership in the House inexplicably denied the committee the space it had booked in the Rayburn House Office Building. Democrats then scrambled to convert it into a press event, to be held outside on the Capitol steps.
Reporters planning to cover the event noticed some unusual behind-the-scenes tumult, as the announced room space changed several times in twenty-four hours: it changed once on Monday to an alternate space in Rayburn, then again on Tuesday morning to the Capitol Visitor’s Center, followed by an announcement that it would be held outside.
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http://www.thenation.com/blog/179693/republicans-block-hearing-long-term-jobless-benefits
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