DOES KYL KNOW WHAT HIS CAUCUS IS UP TO?…. Effective tomorrow, 200,000 out-of-work Americans will see their unemployment benefits expire. Congress would have approved an extension, but Senate Republicans blocked a vote before lawmakers left for their spring recess.
The Senate’s #2 Republican this morning made it sound like there’s Republican support for an extension, which under the circumstances, seems like an odd thing to say.
Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) said Sunday that it will be necessary to extend unemployment benefits, but that’s not a long-term solution. […]
“We will have to do things like extend unemployment benefits,” Kyl said on “Fox News Sunday.”
“But that’s not a job stimulator … we will do those things to take care of the families that are suffering right now,” he said.
These are, to be sure, the right phrases. Kyl twice said “we will” in the context of helping the unemployed with extended benefits.
But what does Kyl mean by “we,” and for that matter, “will”? Senate Democrats had a proposal on the floor to help the unemployed. Senate Republicans blocked a vote, just as they did in March with Sen. Jim Bunning’s (R-Ky.) infamous “blockade.”
Is Kyl not paying attention, or is he hoping the public isn’t paying attention?
