GOP Smacked

  In the spirit of the season (not), House Republicans blocked an effort to extend unemployment benefits in the latest budget maneuvers.
   But at what cost? The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the cost of extending the Emergency Unemployment Extension Act for one year would be $27.5 billion. Failure to extend benefits to the unemployed will mean 1.3 million workers will lose this source of income in about 10 days, when the legislation expires.
   In its report to Rep. Sander Levin of the Ways and Means Committee, the CBO said the added cost would be $19.7 billion in fiscal 2014, and another $6.5 billion in the 2015 fiscal year. Meanwhile, as those out-of-work families use their benefits for food, clothing and shelter expenses, revenues to the government would increase slightly, by $500 million over 10 years.
   Granted, $27.5 billion is a hefty chunk of change, but in context of the total federal budget over two years, it's chump change. Spending on defense, meanwhile, would jump by $63 billion according to the deal now moving toward approval in the Senate, to more than $1 trillion. The budget as a whole is some $3.8 trillion, with defense spending accounting for nearly one-fifth of the total. The  additional $19.7 billion in aid to the jobless for next year's budget comes to one-half of one percent of the total budget of $3.8 trillion.

   So "Cut spending" is still the Republican song, except for defense contractors, who contribute to campaign funding. People without jobs have no income, so obviously can't kick in money to political campaigns.
   But they can vote.