When Your Unemployment Runs Out, Thank Mitch and Jimbo

All six of Kentucky's House delegation voted in favor of extending unemployment benefits to people whose benefits are about to expire. The four republicans included, and even Mr. Fiscal Responsibility repug-fellator himself, DINO Ben Chandler.

What could have inspired loyal repugs Davis, Rogers, Guthrie and Whitfield to vote in favor of such a Democratic, ni**er-loving, welfare-promoting, tax-and-spend, dirry-fucking-hippie bill?

Maybe the accelerating unemployment rate in every single one of Kentucky's 120 counties? When the number of unemployed people in your district exceeds the margin of victory in your last election, some things lose their partisan taint.

But now the bill goes to the Senate, where everything good and pure and helpful to non-millionaires and beneficial to the nation goes to die.

So Governor Steve Beshear has publicly announced his plea to Senators Mitch McConnell and Jim Bunning that they vote in favor of the bill.

As the Commonwealth faces an 11.1 percent unemployment rate, Gov. Steve Beshear today sent a letter to Kentucky Senators Mitch McConnell and Jim Bunning urging them to back a proposal designed to provide a temporary extension of certain unemployment benefits.

House Resolution (H.R.) 3548, recently passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, will provide an additional 13 weeks of unemployment insurance benefits to Kentucky’s unemployed workers who qualify. This comes just as jobless rates have again climbed in each of the state’s 120 counties compared to last year.

In little more than a year’s time, nearly 123,000 Kentuckians have claimed emergency unemployment compensation after their regular benefit allowances expired. During this prolonged economic downturn, between 800 and 1,200 Kentuckians each week are now exhausting the emergency unemployment benefits provided by Congress. Additionally, more than 10,000 have been forced to rely further on the extended benefits provided through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

Earlier this month, the governor asked Kentucky’s Congressional delegation to support H.R. 3404, a measure that would provide a yearlong extension of unemployment benefits. That proposal is still waiting for consideration.

“While I hold out hope that this longer extension may someday become a reality and provide a much-needed boost to Kentucky’s unemployed,” Gov. Beshear wrote, “your support of H.R. 3548 will certainly go a long way toward helping those Kentuckians who need it most.”

To contact your Senators in support of H.R. 3548, go online here.

Given that neither Mitchie-poo nor Rip Van Winkle giving a flying fuck about Kentucky or Kentuckians, anybody got odds on Steve getting his wish?