despite the white house saying they want benefits extended with no strings attached, majority leader harry reid says he is open to finding a way to offset the $6.5 billion jobless aid for the three-month extension of these benefits. yesterday the president spoke about the vote and what s next for the bill. i ve heard the argument that says extending unemployment insurance will somehow hurt the unemployed because it saps their motivation to get a new job. i meet a lot of people. and i can t name a time where i met an american who would rather have an unemployment check than the pride of having a job. so, we ve got to get this across the finish line without obstruction or delay and we need the house of representatives to be able to vote for it as well. in new jersey, governor chris christie once again proving he s not afraid to step
to move forward on debate on a three-month extension of emergency unemployment benefits. six republicans joined democrats in voting for the bill. rob portman and dan coats warned, however, they could vote no on future procedural votes unless the bill is paid for. best choice, pass it, no strings attached. get it done. get it done quickly. second best choice, finding a reasonable pay for. that s a lot easier said than done. again, as i said, i m worried that we may be being somewhat walked into a cul-de-sac by our colleagues who don t have an intention of doing that. the hurdle this bill will face became clear almost immediately when senate republican leader mitch mcconnell proposed it would be paid for by changes to the president s health care law. i d like to propose that we be allowed, my side be allowed to offer an amendment to pay for
delayed yesterday s vote. the democrats need 60 votes to advance the bill but more than a dozen senators unable to make it back to washington because of weather-related flight delays. john cornyn believes the delay is because democrats are searching for the votes and causing the delay a political exercise and speaking of cold. republicans say they are not against the bill but are looking to offset the benefits with spending cuts. the director of the white house economic council gene spurling says the president wants the bill passed with no strings attached. what that means, no strings attached means put $25 billion deeper in debt or printing $25 billion worth of money. that is like me walking into a store and saying, hey, i want that car, no strings attached. give me the key. no, it s not. that is exactly when they go no strings attached, they are saying, we want to add $25 billion it s like walking in
rich, republicans recognized they needed to close the empathy gap. what could help them control the senate in 2014 and the first of what will be a series of votes to address income inequality. the senate will vote in an hour on whether to move forward on a bill to extend jobless benefits. senate democrats must have five republicans on board. right now, four have signed on. co-sponsored dean heller of nevada will join us in ten minutes along with maine s susan collins, and new hampshire s kelly ayotte. others are open to extension but are looking to offset the benefits with spending cuts. the white house says the president wants the bill attachd with no strings attached. he will speak later this morning at the white house. don t be surprised if he uses that as an opportunity to chastise the gop on this vote. on the 50th anniversary of
when folks like kathryn have a little more to spend to turn up the heat in her house or buy a few extra groceries, that means more spending with businesses in her local community. which in turn may inspire that business to hire one more person. maybe cathy. that s why in the past, both parties have repeatedly put partisanship and ideology aside to offer some security for job seekers with no strings attached. it s been done, regardless of whether democrats or republicans were in the white house. it s been done regardless whether democrats or republicans controlled congress. and, by the way, it s done it s been done multiple times when the unemployment rate was significantly lower than it is today. and what s important to keep in mind also is that the recovery in a big country like the united