Unemployment benefits at risk and FAA shutdown.

As it stands, most people laid off today will not be eligible to collect federal unemployment benefits after their state benefits run out. And those collecting federal benefits could find themselves cut off before receiving the full number of weeks for which they are now eligible

cnn

There is news like this all over the place. Congress spends weeks debating the default, they pass it at huge costs to citizens, they make very few improvements other then cutting spending.
I say that Congress should go without pay and benefits as long as this recession continues.
I have never really despised politicians till now....

The Economic Policy Institute, a liberal think tank, estimates that the spending cuts will cost the economy 323,000 jobs in 2012. It also estimates that allowing the payroll tax holiday and extended unemployment benefits to expire could cost an additional 1.5 million jobs

Then there is the FAA shutdown:

Washington (CNN) -- The Federal Aviation Administration has issued additional "stop work orders" to construction and technology contractors after Congress failed to reauthorize funding for the federal agency

CNN

I hope Congress can't fly anywhere on their summer break.

I need angrier emoticons.

How badly are they trying to screw us?

Agreed!
So whats the point in people paying into Employement Insurance if they get laid off?...That's what it's there for...to protect them for a period of time whilst seeking other employment...and the employee pays into it in the first place!...Well that's how it works here in Canada!!!

It's just another way of trying to make ridiculous cuts and penalising the people that 'do' and 'want' to work!...Whilst the 'fat cat' bankers get millions when they retire or get paid off (that's something that really disgusts me)...It's happening everywhere...a global crisis...but instead of sensibly clearing debt as I said they would rather penalise those who are honest.

In the UK they ARE clamping down on people who have been claiming benefits for all sorts of reasons..ie too obese to work, alcohol and drug problems...and they have been spying on people who are working and have been claiming incapacity benefits and for that I am glad. because there's been a lot of fraud...That to me is abhorrent but it was the 'outgoing' government that turned a blind eye to that...and now the current government is picking up all the mess...and people are complaining that they are cutting this and that...well what would you rather be...bankrupt like Greece!

I so agree that it would be nice for politicians not to get allowances and or a holiday...and I also agree that Canada and US should tap into their own resources...I think Alberta province is sitting on huge amounts of oil..........I could be wrong as I have only heard this through others and have only been here 6 yrs

but yes...totally agree with you S & F from me!

i have despised politicians now for near a decade.

theres a video about harry reid missin his plants yep they left some americans hanging out in the wind because they just had to get their "vacations".

cant stand congress the only thing they give a flying cow patty about is themselves how much proof do anyone of us need?

throw all da bumbs out i say!

I just don't get how they can go on summer recess when there is so much hanging on the line right now.I just don't get it. I know that there are things they have to do in their own jurisdictions and it gets them away from DC, but if the military can't come home, if the FAA of all agencies can't work, and people are runnning out of unemployment, by God they should stay until the emergency is over.
The cost of the FAA being let down is supposed to be something like 1.4 billion dollars.

I suffer from depression..and live in the uk.

The benefits system here is complicated. I had to have a medical and scored 0 points... 98% of people that attend a medicle fail...

Whilst you fail your medical you still get paid a basic rate which is £130 every fortnite... you also get full rent paid and council tax benefit paid.

7 months after i failed my medicle and was on this lower rate i finally got my appeal date through and went to court.
I showed the judge a letter from my GP saying i was unfit for work..
I was so anxious that i would get turned down but the judge didnt even ask me anything.. she said we have seen your documents and will allow you full benefit.

I got paid £1100 backdated pay and now im getting £190 every fortnite.

Having gone through this ordeal it made my depression a lot worse..
The system really does suck... They should have just passed me unfit to work at the medicle.

The people i really feel sorry for are those who fail their appeal and have to claim Job Seekers Allowance which is the basic rate of £130 every fortnite with full rent and council tax covered but for that you have to attend the job centre every two weeks and they make you do all sorts of mad things like go for interviews cleaning toilets in macdonalds.. like you can survive on that kind of wage...

reply to post by nixie_nox


Congress just fixed this issue with the FAA and they are now going back to normal operations.

Yep mandatory participation in both unemployment insurance and social security, yet they're threatening to remove them.

Bend over.

reply to post by Xcathdra


Thank you, I just came in for an update.

Congressional leaders reached agreement Thursday on temporary funding for the Federal Aviation Administration, ending a stalemate that cost 4,000 furloughed federal workers almost two weeks of pay and shortchanged the Treasury of more than $300 million.

Washington Post

the whole debt ceiling fiasco was just to create the super congress. would congress had approved this special committee if they where to vote on just it? or did they have to find a reason to get congress to pass a bill on a deadline and put it in secretly, put in a timeframe where the senators dont get chance to read it. claim it needs to pass or else and bingo, now you have a super congress to override the regular congress and to go around the constitution. this just the norm in D.C. anymore. they dont care about the people , the debt ceiling or the economy at all. they just need to find anyway necessary to get their agenda to move forward.

This entire fiasco is nothing more than another attempt to strip workers of their right to unionize, being orchestrated by the far right wing of the republican party. Let me see if I get this right; We stand to lose 1.1 billion in tax revenue in one month's time while we argue over an issue that cost us 200 million annually, go figure. That kinda new math only works in the House of Representatives that has currently been hijacked by the Tea Party.

Here's an article that spells out what's really going on behind the scenes with regards to this issue;

motherjones.com...

So, why did Congress force the shutdown?

Several minor disputes have led to this impasse.

The first is an industry-backed provision by House Republicans that would make it harder for aviation and railroad workers to unionize, essentially by counting workers who didn't vote in a union election as having voted against the union. President Obama has threatened to veto any FAA bill containing this measure, but it's included in the House version of a long-term reauthorization bill anyway.

The second dispute is over a program—called the Essential Air Service Program—that provides subsidies to airlines that fly into tiny airports servicing more than 100 rural communities. House Republicans have tried to reduce those subsidies and phase them out in all states except for Alaska and Hawaii. The move has been opposed by some lawmakers whose states' subsidies will be ended.

It's worth noting that the Government Accountability Office has recommended that Congress reexamine whether funds for the Essential Air Service Program are being used efficiently. But it's also unclear whether the lawmakers who've proposed cutting the program care much about it one way or the other. Rep. John Mica, a Florida Republican and chairman of the House Transportation committee, assured a conference of airport executives earlier this month that the House added the provision in a stop-gap funding bill as a bargaining chip to win concessions on the unionization issue, reported Aviation Week. "It's just a tool," Mica told the executives.

Make me wonder if Wisconsin's governor, Scott Walker, or maybe even his bosses, the Koch brothers, are the ones actually calling the shots.