Today in Washington, D.C. - July 19, 2010 - Obama Off Base in Hypocritical Attack

Senate reconvened at 2 PM today. Following an hour of morning business, the Senate will resume consideration of the small business bill, H.R. 5297. On Tuesday, Carte Goodwin (D) will be sworn in as the junior senator from West Virginia. Following that, there will be a cloture vote on the vehicle for an unemployment insurance extension, the House message to accompany H.R. 4213.

A vote on Elena Kagan's nomination to the Supreme Court may come tomorrow. Lame Duck Sen. Arlen Specter (PA-D) who was past critic of Kagan says he will support the nomination of Kagan to the Supreme Court despite what he calls her "non-answers" to senators' questions during confirmation hearings. This will be one last attempt by the former disgraced RINO - now Democrat to "kiss-off" America.

Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) has said, "I'm deeply troubled by her decision as Solicitor General to urge the Supreme Court to review and strike down an Arizona law designed to prevent employers from hiring illegal aliens. The Ninth Circuit unanimously upheld the law because federal immigration law explicitly allows states to sanction employers through their business licensing regimes. I think there are legitimate questions about whether the brief authorized by Ms. Kagan - which flies in the face of the plain language of the law and urges the Supreme Court to strike these enforcement provisions down-was motivated by political influence at the White House and within the Department of Justice."

Kagan is another "under-qualified" liberal who we do not serving on the Supreme Court Justice. The last two Obama appointments for the U.S. Supreme Court reveal a lack of respect for America and portends an apparent underlying agenda.

And speaking about President Obama, this morning, he went to the Rose Garden podium to accuse Senate Republicans of blocking an extension of unemployment benefits. USA Today writes, “A Republican filibuster that has three times blocked the extension ‘reflects a lack of faith in the American people,’ Obama said. ‘They're not looking for a handout. They desperately want to work. It's just that right now, they can't find a job.’ The president said ‘It's time to stop holding workers laid off in this recession hostage to Washington politics.’” The AP adds that Obama “accus[ed] them of holding the public hostage to Washington politics.” All of this is, of course, absurd.

Republicans are simply asking that assistance for the unemployed be paid for at a time when our nation’s debt exceeds $13 trillion and when the country is facing its second straight year of a deficit larger than $1 trillion. As the AP points out, “The $34 billion needed to extend benefits would be borrowed, adding to the nation's mounting debt.”

It’s particularly audacious for the President to insinuate that Republicans have callous disregard for the plight of the unemployed as his administration is in the midst of a campaign to claim that their failed stimulus bill is creating a “Recovery Summer.” Of course, this was also a day after he returned from a conspicuous weekend trip to a popular vacation spot in Maine.

Even more ridiculous is Obama’s charge that Republicans are holding these benefits “hostage” to Washington politics. In fact, back in November 2009, Obama called fully paid for unemployment benefits “fiscally responsible.” But just during the month of June, Democrats objected to 4 different GOP requests to extend unemployment benefits without adding to the debt. A month ago Sen. John Thune (R-SD) offered an amendment to extend benefits to November, cut the deficit by $55 billion, and cut spending by $100 billion. But even that was unacceptable to Democrats: 57 voted to kill the Thune amendment.

It’s pretty amazing to have the Democrat president accusing Republicans of playing politics with unemployment benefits given this track record from Democrats in the Senate. But it’s even more ridiculous considering what’s going to happen tomorrow: In the afternoon, the new Democrat senator from West Virginia is going to be sworn in, and 15 minutes later he’s expected to join Democrats in using his new government credit card to pay for unemployment benefits through deficit spending by voting for cloture on their bill. So why didn’t Democrats hold the vote last week? They didn’t have the votes for the deficit spending. And yet President Obama is accusing Republicans of playing politics.

In the eight months since Obama called paying for extending unemployment benefits “fiscally responsible,” the debt has grown $1.25 trillion. Does he expect Americans to believe it’s somehow responsible to not pay for them now? On CNN’s State of the Union yesterday, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said, “Somewhere in the course of spending a trillion dollars, we ought to be able to find enough to pay for a program for the unemployed. . . . If we can't pay for a program like extension of unemployment insurance that virtually every member of the Senate -- I think, in fact, every member of the Senate wants to extend, then what are we going to pay for? When do we start?”

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