Heller, Amodei on opposite sides of extending unemployment benefits
By Amber Phillips, Las Vegas Sun
WASHINGTON — Sen. Dean Heller has invested months lobbying his colleagues to extend benefits for unemployed Americans.
In a rare feat of bipartisanship, Republicans and Democrats from Nevada’s six-person delegation have backed Heller’s effort to renew benefits for the long-term unemployed after Congress let the program expire in December.
The bill has become personal for Heller because Nevada’s unemployment rate remains stubbornly high at 7.9 percent, the second highest in the country. “This year has been extremely difficult for Nevadans who still do not know how they are going to pay their bills or feed their families,” Heller said in a recent press conference.
But there has been one noticeable holdout from Nevada’s delegation: Republican Rep. Mark Amodei.
Amodei, who represents Reno and Carson City, didn’t support extending the benefits when it passed the Senate and died in the House this spring, and he isn’t sure he’ll join in this time, either.
Amodei’s opposition falls in line with House Speaker John Boehner. Despite Heller’s repeated calls on Boehner for support, the Ohio Republican hasn’t brought the bill to a House vote.
Dean Heller is Republican that far right wing conservatives call a RINO.
And those same conservatives would argue that we need more people in Washington that think for themselves.
Well, as long as that thought process falls directly in line with their beliefs!
Just how long SHOULD people get unemployment benefits? Forever? People used to move when work disappeared. Now they stay stuck in the same place, taking the perpetual handout.
No wonder the USA is dying. How long are the working middle class going to be able to pay for EVERYTHING for everybody who shows up with their hands out?
I’m a lifelong Democrat with no likelihood of voting Republican in the years I have left. But I’ve personally known Dean Heller since early in his political career when he was both Nevada Secretary of State with a reputation for going after knucklehead attorneys, and a very local stock car racer and, more importantly, a mentor and supporter of young race car drivers.
Amodei, whom the romance languages would translate (arrogantly) as “I love god,” is a total screwball whose stupidity embarrasses even his own party (as unlikely as that seems).
In recent years I’ve promised myself that I’ll never vote for another Republican, but if Amodei is trying to distance himself from Dean Heller, I may find myself simply going for what’s right.
And Amodei does not even resemble what’s right for local or national politics. Why do my neighbors keep electing him?
Settle back into reality, Dean, and we’ll all do what we can to barricade the gate the crazies would do anything to overcome.
Dogula – you must be on a government pension. This recession hit so many folks so hard, and if they are past the age of 50 – it is unbelievably hard to find work ANYWHERE (move – to where?). What do you do for income? SHARE… and don’t be so condescending and righteous, when so many folks are still suffering from this economic nightmare.
My husband and I get ZIP from government. No benefits at all. We are the middle class who pays for everybody else’s stuff. Always. He could surely get disability if he was so inclined. A birth defect means he is in stage 4 kidney failure after all these years. But he continues to work as hard as he can rather than take the hand out. I don’t work as hard as he does, but I do work.
Don’t make assumptions about people you don’t know. Some of us are more determined than others.
The longer we give handouts of any kind, we enable weakness. Electeds want to give handouts so those folks will vote for them, it’s that simple. More people will be inclined to vote, if they are voting for something of benefit to themselves. In the case of unemployment, welfare, government pensions, people will come out and vote for the electeds who put cash in their pocket.
Some electeds get votes by giving cash and benefits to underemployed, unemployed, bow to the unions, and giving breaks to their friends in business and donors who in turn support them for office. It’s everyone’s self interest in play for handouts.
Truth is, People need help, but for awhile. 6 months is helpful. 12 months in some cases. 24 months is feeding weakness. Teach someone new skills and they will be stronger. Stronger minded, more able to find work and more able to keep employment. This philosophy has been the same since beginning of time, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”
Whittle the assistance down while teaching them to fish, would be better. Improve the education incentives, reduce student loan interest, forgive student loan debt only in exchange for those who will donate their time to teach others, require anything beyond 6 months of unemployment benefits to be tied to new training and skill building, but then educating people might result in a better educated populace who just might wake up and take back their country, not something the weaker electeds would want.
Dogula:
For the sake of clarity, does getting “ZIP from government. No benefits at all” mean that you and your spouse are of an eligible age and are eligible for Social Security Retirement Benefits and/or Medicare but elect not to take either?
Also, I would assume that you and your spouse have always paid in to employee taxes for disability benefits. A person “in stage 4 kidney failure after all these years” who has paid in to those benefits should take advantage of what they’ve paid for. You’ve both paid for that disability coverage and to continue to work as hard as you can won’t add longevity or quality to an ill person’s life. This isn’t a contest.
Of course it’s not a contest. But being productive as long as one can gives him (and me) a sense of accomplishment. A reason to live. Without a purpose, what would be the point? It’s what keeps us strong.
Dogula:
I’m glad that working as hard as one can makes it possible for a person with stage 4 kidney failure to feel strong. I imagine some would say you two are very noble.
As for me and my spouse, I’m 70, she’s 65, and we both continue to work at paying jobs and take care of our home and yard (and we continue to pay taxes). We paid in to Social Security and Medicare throughout our entire working lives and are now utilizing both which is really helpful. Had a few health issues but who doesn’t when they get old. Glad to say we are quite happy and content, and we’ve earned it.
Continued long term benefits only promotes long term unemployment. Just like the kids must at some point move out of the parents house and become self sustaining so must those who remain on unemployment for months/years on end. There are jobs out there, go get one! They not be what you desire, they may pay less than you’d like (which will always be the case)you have to re-engage and start your path upward somewhere.
Glad for you, too, 4-mer. I’m sure we’ll collect some of what we’ve contributed eventually. But not yet. Work is good.
Keep pluggin’ away.
“The longer we give handouts of any kind, we enable weakness…”
I wonder if this applies to political campaigns, roads and bridges, fire departments, military expenditures, corporate bailouts, public schools, university research, farm subsidies, tax credits of ANY kind.
Dogula and Dan are well known for their singleminded, Machiavellian inspired Christian lack of compassion. Let’s all welcome Frank to the ranks of the heartless libturdarians.
hmmmmmm, forcing people who work to pay for stuff for people who will not work, is not compassion. No matter how often you insult people, it will never be compassion. Compassion is voluntary. Comes from the heart. Freely. Government coercion has nothing to do with compassion. Redistribution is theft.
Changing the argument from endless unemployment benefits to paying for infrastructure is bogus. Stop it.
Dog-You are presupposing that thing beating in your chest is a heart. Your lack of caring is abhorrent, your pettiness is laughable. Your support of corporate greed is obscene. Your Satan must be proud of you.
You have earned every insult you receive-far more, actually.
What a waste of a life you are.
She is a “proud Islamophobe” (direct quote) and was promoting a disgusting piece of hateful propaganda (ask her to post the link to the video again, it got her banned from the trib site). Rails against crony capitalism, while agreeing with the Citizens United decision. And ironically doesn’t support investment in education.
Believes the earth is a few thousand years old, thinks addiction is a choice, thinks homosexuality is a choice.
Ignorance and fear makes for disgusting humans.
Im thankful to live in a society where people that need help can find it.yes, there are many people out there that take advantage of handouts, karma will deal with them, but if I truly needed help I know I could find it. Unfortunatly the whiners saying that is socialism and finger pointing are just that, WHINERS, and hypocrits to boot. Having a society where everyone contributes to the welfare of everyone is a good thing. I find it interesting how so many of the naysayers spout out about all this pro being christian, and then in the next sentence say something very anti christian. This is thehyprocasy as I see it. Id say that if the anti gvmnt types out there who are constantly whining about taxes and handouts, they should all stop drinking water from the public water systems, stop driving on roads and highways, stop buying meat at the market, stop flushing their toilets. All of these things are regulated and paid for by the people through taxes. So if you anti types want to turn back the clock, move to Texas, build a big ol wall to keep out the socialists and good luck…
Another LIE, Fish. The only person who has ever called me a “proud islamophobe” is YOU. This is getting ridiculous. When did I say homosexuality was a choice? When was I banned from the trib? Your lies are out of control. You cannot make up your own reality and spew garbage about other people.
STOP IT.
Dog is SHOUTING again. No one is listening…
Sounds more like she’s crying. She starts a fire then whines when it gets too hot. I figured she would be at the helm of her patriotic subscription website, keeping Amerika safe from the majority of Americans.