Kirk Opposes Aid for Unemployed

With a tough economy, Democrats in Congress recognized that unemployed workers needed help. That’s why they introduced H.R. 5749, the Emergency Extended Unemployment Compensation Act — a bill that would extend unemployment benefits by an extra 13 weeks for all unemployed workers and by 26 weeks for workers in states such as Michigan, California, and Alaska, where the unemployment rate is greater than 6 percent.

But George W. Bush opposed the measure. Rather than admit that his economic policies had failed, Bush said the U.S. unemployment rate was too low to justify extension of benefits to those hardest hit by joblessness.

When he threatened to veto the bill, what did Congressman Mark Kirk do? He stood by Bush’s side. Along with 136 other House Republicans, Kirk voted against the measure to help unemployed Americans.

Democratic Congressman Sander Levin of Michigan, one of the bill’s co-sponsors, remarked that Republicans who oppose the measure are “obeying the position, if not the orders, of the White House,” rather than looking out for the interests of the American people they have been elected to represent.

Kirk’s decision to support the Republican White House at the expense of unemployed workers struggling to make ends meet in a weak economy (an outcome of the Bush administration’s reckless fiscal policy, which Kirk has consistently supported) comes as little surprise to those who follow his votes. We’re all too familiar with Kirk’s embrace of President Bush’s policies, even when it means denying sorely needed assistance to vulnerable Americans. That’s why we’re committed to replacing Mark Kirk.

There’s a better tomorrow for America. It begins on November 4th.