Fight For Jobless Benefits Cranks Up
By: Ray Doughty
Updated: July 20, 2010
President Obama and Congressional Republicans are squaring off again this week over restoring benefits to the long-term unemployed.
The president says Republicans are standing in the way of recovery.
"They've got no problem spending money on tax breaks for folks at the top who don't need them and didn't even ask for them, but they object to helping folks laid off in this recession who really do need help," Mr. Obama complained in his weekly radio address.
Republicans say they're not against the benefits, but add they won't vote for any bill that isn't paid for first.
"We've been on a gargantuan spending spree for the last year and a half, far more than any deficits that were run up in the early part of the decade," says Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. "This is a serious matter."
Every day this fight goes on another 50,000 Americans lose their unemployment insurance.
