Senate Adjourns For Two Weeks - KFSN Fresno California Report On "Milking Unemployment"

As everyone may know, on Friday the 26th the Senate adjourned for a two week Easter recess. Leaving a million who will expire their benefits on April 5th in addition to those who have already exhausted or will soon exhaust Tier 4 benefits.

The House of Representatives had already approved a measure that extended the deadline for filing until April 30th but it did not approve a bill that included a Tier 5 unemployment extension.

We have done all that we can do at this point but wait until the Senate returns. According to the Washington Independent, Harry Reid's office stated that when the Senate returns and votes on cloture to pass the 30 day extension for filing that it will be retroactive to the April 5th cutoff.

It may be a rough, uphill battle for the unemployed to get a Tier 5. Sen. John McCain has vowed "no cooperation for the rest of the year" and that seems to be the general consensus from the Republican party. That statement from Senator McCain begs the question, what cooperation did the republican party offer since the election of Barack Obama?

Our country desperately needs a steam-rolling majority of one party or the cooperation of both parties. Hundreds of bills which the US House have already passed are sitting stalled in the Senate. Now is not the time to hear from any Senator, "Sorry, there is no cooperation for the rest of the year".

In addition to the partisan bickering in Washington, the unemployed also are contending with bailout banks influencing policy for the unemployed and reports such as this one from the ABC-affiliate, KFSN in Fresno California:


Source Story
In the video, some unemployed in California are accused of "Milking Unemployment". The president of a staffing agency in Fresno reports that some unemployed are turning down work because they have unemployment insurance.

What do stories like this accomplish, KFSN? The majority of persons collecting unemployment are honest and are victims of this recession. They would not qualify for unemployment insurance if they were not laid off due to no fault of their own. Report more stories on that fact than the childish few who do abuse the system. There's fraud, waste, and abuse in every program from all government programs (state or federal). What's with the need to pick on the unemployed?

With stories like the one at KFSN and the lack of cooperation in the Senate, it is going to be an uphill climb for the honest unemployed who are in desperate need of an extension of benefits. As is true with most things, the greedy few can ruin the entire system. Or a more famous phrasing, "One bad apple can ruin the entire bunch".

In my opinion, I think the bigger fraud is the fact the American taxpayer is paying United States Senators (who have a salary of $147K to 194K per year) to say to the people, "We are just not going to cooperate the rest of the year". Or just flatly saying no and deliberately obstructing critical and time-sensitive legislation that will help millions of jobless Americans. This fact is something to think about when we all go to the polls this November.

We all hope that when the Senate returns from break that they do not deny the needs of the many because there are those who are undermining the system. The long-term unemployed will need to do all they can to debunk the theories of "Milking Unemployment" as these will be the talking points for those who oppose extensions for the unemployed.

Good luck to everyone and thank you for your continued support to call-in campaigns and the many online petitions to Congress. The unemployed will be heard.