Republicans demand offsets to pay for extending $30b unemployment benefits

[niceypoo]

Why don't the Democrats hold them to their own standard?

Why are we not demanding offsets of $700 billion to pay for their tax cut for the rich? Why do we always let them off the hook?

[suston96]

1. Offsets for unemployment benefits? How about the 2 years of no Social Security COLAs?

How about the President's freeze on federal wages and such? There must already be more federal cuts......

[Recursion]

9. What is it with the COLA?

It's an automatic calculation that was removed from political meddling decades ago. The national cost of living is calculated and the COLA is derived from that. A computer does it. Nobody decided "hey, let's not have a COLA this year"; nobody is even allowed to decide that.

[suston96]

11. "It's an automatic calculation ...." Yeah, so it is. But it is also.....

....billions of dollars in savings - billions that the Repubs are looking for to make up for the unemployment insurance extensions.

The question was where is the money coming from to finance the unemployment extensions? Everybody else gets to feed off the Social Security Trust Funds. Why not the unemployed?

[karynnj]

13. I think the estimate for the wage freeze is higher than $30 billion

but they will claim it doesn't count as Obama already ordered. Their real goal is to gut the money still left in stimulus funs because they were never in favor of spending it.

[roguevalley]

16. how about their heads on a platter? You know its coming.

[rfranklin]

2. How some of those earmarks that go their states?

That seems only fair.

[karynnj]

14. Not a bad idea - McConnell had many earmarks - Kentucky doesn't need them

and they already get back far more than they put in.

But, the fact is that as a poor state, taking them away will probably hurt poor Kentuckians more than McConnell.

[n2doc]

3. Fine. Cut some defense pork that is going to a red state n/t

[niceypoo]

4. Or, better yet....

Demand single payer in return, no exceptions. See how they react.

[AtomicKitten]

5. "If they feel very strongly about it, then I want to get a sense of how they intend to pay for it."

Obama to GOP: How do you pay for tax cut extensions?
http://www.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2010/11/obama-to-gop-how-do-you-pay-for-millionaire-tax-cuts/1

[niceypoo]

6. Better yet...

...instead of getting a 'sense' of how they intend to pay for it - why not get their FULL DETAILED PLAN so it can be sent to the CBO for a score.

[AtomicKitten]

8. They have no plan. He knows it, they know he knows it.

It's subtle mocking.

Admittedly I'm hankering to see some full-on mocking, but subtle mocking works.

[niceypoo]

17. He should publicly demand that they reveal their plan in full detail

He should rub their noses in it publicly. He should publicly humiliate them and members of his administration should all be out doing the same.

[BeyondGeography]

7. What's the net tax dollar outflow to Teabagger Nation?

[Recursion]

10. Because foregone revenue really isn't the same as allocated money

And it definitely isn't rhetorically the same.

But the real reason is that they'll offer to cut something we really don't want cut, and then we'll be in a very tough position.

[karynnj]

12. Because they would come up with them - from our programs

- even though they say that they are not needed.

[polmaven]

15. I think the (R)s have it backwards.

They should be required to find offsets for the loss of revenue that will result by NOT extending unemployment benefits. That will likely be a whole lot more than $30B.