the president believes we should pass this right away with no strings attached. the first senate test vote to gain senate support is scheduled for 10:30 this morning. it was supposed to meet last night. but 17 senators could make it back to dc. they were delayed because of the cold. president obama is giving a speech supporting the extension of the benefits at the white house. a lot of planes canceled. peter doocy thank you very much. charles krauthammer sounding off on what he calls the real issue behind unemployment benefits, entitlement. now is not the time. 4 and a half years recovery at least as defined by the administration itself. it is not the time. if not now, then when? european level of unemployment, chronic unemployment subsidized. the fact is if you subsidize
is there any compromise possible? i think today was an important day day moving forward with the senate invoking cloture to proceed in the senate. there s a long bipartisan history of support for extending long-term unemployment compensation benefits and that s because it s the right thing to do. it s the smart thing to do. five times during the administration of president bush extensions were granted with no strings attached. just recently when congress passed the bipartisan budget, there was a three month extension for the so-called doc fix, which is medicare doctors, the payments to them were extended for three months, no strings attached. i think we can do the same thing here. it gives us an opportunity to work out a longer term solution. but the reality is, if congress fails to act, given the current level of long-term unemployment, it would quite literally be unprecedented for them to do that. it is really the right thing to do and smart thing to do because
the next three months won t increase the nation s debt. why not cut spending elsewhere? there s a lot of waste, as you know, out there. and do it and get this done with once and for all. it s interesting, wolf. president bush signed an emergency unemployment compensation extensions five times with no strings attached. just last month, the congress acted in a bipartisan fashion to extend the so-called doc fix. that s the payment to medicare doctors for three months, no strings attached. what this bipartisan bill in the senate from senator heller and senator reid does is just that. let s pass this now so that people like kathryn hackette who have lost this lifeline can get that. and then let s talk about a long-term fix so people don t have to legislate month-to-month. mr. secretary, is the president rejecting any offset, any cuts elsewhere to pay for this? the president, as he has said, looks forward to trying to
there is no such thing as a free lunch. the language i guess this is the difference between democrats and republicans. we republicans say, okay, let s do this. it s important on. and let s figure out where to find $25 billion of waste and let s say the pentagon and massive, you know, waste fraud and abuse so we can find in entitlement programs in other areas and all the programs let s find that $25 billion or whatever the price tag is, we will pay for the unemployment benefits. that is great thing to do. but we re 17 trillion in debt and we have to pay for it. the white house is saying, no, no, no, no strings attached. you mean republicans we will steal $25 billion more from your children and grandchildren. i don t think it s irrational. harold, is it irrational to say let s extend the benefits but not print $25 billion more of money?
the last time there was a big vote on this, you did pick up some senate republicans. what are you and your colleagues at the white house doing here to try to pick up the votes you need? we well, you know, we ve been talking about when the benefits were cut off. i think people might want to know, when does somebody actually feel it? when do they feel that check being cut off? that is today. today is the day 1.3 million americans would get that check. today or either tomorrow. people are going to be scrambling. it is an urgent, urgent issue. we re trying to say, let s pass this bill right now. it is a three-month extension. let s do it with no strings attached. that ll give more time for millions of people or 1.3 million people to come back and discuss how best to go further in 2014. what we do know it is a