President Obama Attacks Republican Senators for Blocking Unemployment Extension

In a recent report on BV on Money, we described the challenges millions of Americans are facing because their unemployment benefits have run out. One million more people are about to face the same fate if an extension is not passed by July 31 in the Senate. President Obama says the Republican minority is responsible for blocking the unemployment extension by calling out their class-based double standard when it comes to concern over the deficit. The Huffington Post reports:

"A majority of Senators have tried not once, not twice, but three times to extend emergency relief on a temporary basis," Obama said from the Rose Garden, surrounded by a handful of individuals whose unemployment insurance had run out because of senatorial dithering. "Each time a partisan minority in the Senate has used parliamentary maneuvers to block a vote denying millions of people who are out of work much need relief. These leaders in the Senate who are advancing a misguided notion that emergency relief somehow discourages people from finding a job should talk to these folks. That attitude, I think, reflects a lack of faith in the American people." ...

As Obama and congressional Democrats have been eager to point out, Republicans do not apply the same fiscal discipline when it comes to the Bush administration's soon-to-expire tax cuts for the wealthy. Letting the tax cuts expire would save $678 billion over ten years, according to the Office of Management and Budget.

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Tavis Discusses Obama

'Accountable' lists 242 campaign promises that President Barack Obama made. To those who suggest it is a critique of Obama, Smiley says, 'For those persons who thought I was hating on Obama...I remind people that [my] trilogy of books started before he was ever heard of on the national scene.'

Elizabeth Bruneau, AOL

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Tavis Discusses Obama

Talk show host Tavis Smiley visited Black Voices to talk about his book, 'Accountable: Making America as Good as Its Promise,' as well as his documentary 'Stand.' Shown from left: Smiley, BV managing editor Sheryl Huggins Salomon, and BV vice president and director Tariq Muhammad.

Tavis Discusses Obama

Smiley says the president has made substantial progress on the economy, but 'for all of the talk about the economy, the president has focused on Wall Street, he's focused a little bit on Main Street; but no real talk about the side street.'

Tavis Discusses Obama

For the documentary 'Stand,' Smiley gathered together several of his male friends on a trip through the South in the summer of 2008. Show from left (back): Cornel West, Michael Eric Dyson, Dick Gregory, David Porter, Isaac Hayes, Raymond Ross, Tavis Smiley, Wren Brown, Eddie Glaude, BeBe Winans, Cliff West. From left (front): Daron Boyce, Robert Smith

Tavis Discusses Obama

As America approached the historic presidential election, against the backdrop of the 40th anniversary of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s slaying, the national dialogue and debate intensified about race relations, politics and the legacy of the civil rights movement. That dialogue is a vibrant part of 'Stand.'

Tavis Discusses Obama

While visiting places like the Lorraine Motel, where Dr. King died, and iconic soul label Stax Records, Smiley and friends explored the diversity and complexity of the Black male experience in America.

Tavis Discusses Obama

Their journey included a visit to the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, TN, on the site of Dr. King's slaying: Left to right: Tavis Smiley, Cornel West, Dick Gregory, BeBe Winans, Michael Eric Dyson, Eddie Glaude, Daron Boyce, Wren Brown, Robert Smith.

Tavis Discusses Obama

These Republican Senators are clearly acting out of a hypocritical desire to protect the donors who have given to their campaigns, rather than thinking clearly about what is in the best interest of the American people and the economy. To claim that $33 billion to help Americans with no other source of income will harmfully inflate the deficit more than letting the rich keep the $678 billion that will be generated by letting tax cuts expire is disingenuous. That $33 billion will clearly be spent right away on necessities, which will at least stimulate the economy in the short term, and could lead to enough growth to warrant more job creation. Helping the already rich to "save" -- when other people's lives are on the line -- holds no similar guarantee.

I applaud the president for finally taking a hard line and calling out these frauds. These Republican Senators seems to forget that they were elected to serve all of the American people, not just rich people with the assets to line their political war chests.