Senator Jim Bunning: Hero? Or Asshole?

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Bunning?

  • Hero

    Votes: 6 15.4%
  • Asshole

    Votes: 33 84.6%

  • Total voters
    39

UberBeaver

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G.O.P. Splits on Senator’s Move to Block Benefits - NYTimes.com

WASHINGTON ? The effort to end a Senate standoff over unemployment benefits and health coverage for the jobless escalated on Tuesday morning as Senator Susan Collins, the moderate Republican from Maine, became the latest lawmaker, and the first Republican, to try to override the objection of Senator Jim Bunning, Republican of Kentucky.

The White House, meanwhile, called Mr. Bunning?s actions ?irrational.?
Ms. Collins, who took the floor shortly after the Senate convened, said her effort was being made on ?behalf of numerous members of the Republican caucus who have expressed concerns to me.?
?There are 500 Mainers whose benefits expired on Sunday,? Ms. Collins said. But Mr. Bunning, her colleague, continued to lodge his objection.
The effort by a Republican to end Mr. Bunning?s fight showed that the intensifying dispute is become a serious distraction in the Senate and a political liability for Republicans.
The White House spokesman?s criticism was couched in unusually strong language at a time when the administration is trying to be seen as searching for bipartisan comity.
?I don?t know how you negotiate with the irrational,? Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, told reporters at an informal morning briefing. ?I don?t know how you prevent one person who decides they hold in the palm of their hand the livelihood of hundreds of thousands who have lost their jobs.?
Mr. Bunning has single-handedly blocked consideration of a bill to extend expiring unemployment and related health benefits for 30 days, arguing that the Senate should first find a way to pay for the expense. Democrats, including President Obama, have hailed new rules they adopted called pay-go that are intended to prevent new spending without offsetting spending cuts or tax increases, but they are not subjecting this bill to those rules.
?If we can?t find $10 billion to pay for it, we?re not going to pay for anything,? Mr. Bunning said on the floor on Monday.
Mr. Gibbs defended not applying the pay-go rules to this legislation, saying ?this is an emergency situation.?
Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, again urged Mr. Bunning to reconsider, saying his push to pay for the $10 billion costs of the added coverage out of stimulus money had been heard.
?His point has been made,? Mr. Reid said.
The impasse has threatened transportation projects and some other programs, as the United States Department of Transportation said it furloughed 2,000 workers on Monday. With no quick resolution in sight, Democrats characterized the decision by one Republican to block the jobless aid and highway construction financing as an example of the practical consequences of regular opposition by Senate Republicans.
Senator Bunning, who is insisting on a point of parliamentary procedure to block the legislation, offered to lift his objection if an agreement was made to use unspent economic stimulus money to cover the $10 billion cost of the unemployment aid, which would go to those who have already exhausted their benefits.
?We cannot keep adding to the debt,? Mr. Bunning said Monday. ?It?s over $14 trillion and going up fast.?
But Democrats said that Republicans had not been concerned about requiring Bush administration initiatives to be paid for and that the unemployment aid amounted to an emergency.
The loss of highway money could be resolved this week if the House passes a separate $15 billion measure meant to spur job creation, but some of the programs tied up in the Senate blockade, like a cut in Medicare fees paid to doctors, could take a while to disentangle.
Democrats are compiling state-by-state lists of the impact of the Senate impasse, viewing it as a vivid way to talk about the costs of Republican opposition. And Ms. Collins?s contribution to that tactic showed that to some degree, Republicans were worried, too.
Department of Transportation officials said the temporary furlough without pay would primarily affect workers at the Federal Highway Administration, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Research and Innovative Technology Administration. Those programs were paid for out of the highway trust fund, which needs to be renewed.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said the furloughs would halt at least 40 major construction projects around the nation because inspectors would be pulled from jobs on federal land.
?As American families are struggling in tough economic times, I am keenly disappointed that political games are putting a stop to important construction projects around the country,? Mr. LaHood said.
Besides the highway spending, other programs that expired as of Sunday night included loans for small businesses, the federal flood insurance program, subsidies to help the unemployed buy health insurance and an agreement that allows satellite television services to carry some broadcast channels.
A law shielding doctors from a 21 percent cut in Medicare fees also lapsed, but the Obama administration took steps to shield doctors temporarily. The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said it would hold claims for services provided in the first 10 days of this month, so doctors would not see the cut in payments.
In a notice to doctors, the Medicare agency said it was working with Congress to avoid disruption in the delivery of health care services and payment of claims. If Congress takes action by March 12, it said, the holding of claims ?should have a minimum impact on provider cash flow.?
What Mr. Bunning is doing is using his right as a senator to object to a request for unanimous consent to pass the series of program extensions already approved by the House. Democrats could begin the process of bringing the measure to a vote to override his objection, but they say that could consume days and they have already opened debate on a broader economic bill.
Mr. Bunning had been acting on his own in blocking the Democratic request to pass the legislation extending the programs for one month while Congress worked on a more permanent solution. But on Monday he drew some support from fellow Republicans who backed his demand that the costs of the programs be covered from unspent economic stimulus funds.
?Why pile on the deficit if we have this store of money available?? asked Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, who suggested that Democrats were eliciting repeated objections from Mr. Bunning to score political points.
Unless Mr. Bunning relents, it appears that the added unemployment pay will lapse for tens of thousands of people.
The broader measure the Senate is now considering would extend the added unemployment benefits and health insurance help through the end of the year and renew more than $30 billion in business tax breaks. But it could take days to pass the Senate and then will have to be considered by the House.















I kinda see his point, but I don't think this is the time or the situation to decide you want to start actually giving a shit about how congress spends money. If it were myriad other situation, sure, go get'em, Tiger. But this is unemployment for 400k people, of which Bunning is as guilty of doing nothing to prevent as anyone.


I say: ASSHOLE.
 
HUGE asshole. Class warfare is the biggest social problem in the US, way ahead of race, politics or religion, and this just contributes to that even more.
 
Asshole.

He's been an asshole for a long time, though, so it's not at all unexpected.
 
bunning.jpg


It's all been downhill since then.
 
Hero, if for no other reason than he's pissing off all the right people.

Now, to the point, what's one good reason why the bill can't be paid for from the 4 or 5 hundred billion dollars worth of unspent stimulus money?
 
Hero, if for no other reason than he's pissing off all the right people.

Those that don't celebrate ignorance? He's pissing off a lot of Republicans too, but only the non-tea bagging kind, so I guess that's your point...

You're predictable yet entertaining:up:
 
Hero, if for no other reason than he's pissing off all the right people.

Now, to the point, what's one good reason why the bill can't be paid for from the 4 or 5 hundred billion dollars worth of unspent stimulus money?



i guess i might switch my vote.

hero, for being the public face of the GOP jumping the shark.
 
I was off work today because of this guy, and will likely be off tomorrow, as the entire Federal Highway Administration is now furloughed because of this.

I honestly would rather be at me desk working than sitting on my ass waiting for congress to reign this guy in, but hey, who needs the Interstate system, right? :rolleyes:
 
I don't know what to think about this situation.

But is his point -- "“If we can’t find $10 billion to pay for it, we’re not going to pay for anything,” Mr. Bunning said on the floor on Monday." -- automatically invalid just because he's a Republican?
 
Asshole.

He's been an asshole for a long time, though, so it's not at all unexpected.

This.

It is not news that almost no one, Democrat or Republican likes Jim Bunning. He is widely known as a complete asshole. Mitch McConnell hates him.

They need to stop these special sessions and make him straight filibuster for hours on end in normal business. Vote for cloture every day at noon. That will put all the pressure on him and will call out the Republicans to either show they have some modicum of sense left and go against him or stand behind him and show just how out of touch they are.

This is just a joke. Bunning VOTED AGAINST PAY AS YOU GO for every single other piece of legislation. Just like the rest of the Republicans, they are only "fiscally conservative" when a Democrat is in office. That is why they supported all kinds of unnecessary wasteful spending for years but now when we have to spend to keep the economy from completely tanking, they are against it. They are fiscally conservative like Bono is tall.

Bunning himself did not show too much concern about how we were going to pay for the $70 million in earmarks he sponsored in 2008-2009. Google turns up no hits of Jim Bunning expressing his outrage that Bush was not paying for 2 wars(approx $1trillion combined) and his tax cuts, about $1.5 trillion and the Medicare Part 2, about $1.2 trillion. Something tells me these things were a little bigger than $10 billion in emergency unemployment benefits.

So now routine money for the highway administration, infrastructure, small business loans, you know, the things that help keep our economy moving, is held up because Bunning is being an asshole.

Some Republicans genuinely think the voters are stupid enough to believe their "fiscally conservative" bullshit act. But not Bunning. The only reason he is doing this is because he is an asshole- he has no such image concerns, he is not running for re election. He could care less if he is portrayed as left of Bernie Sanders.

The Tea Party and their friends in Congress are such fakers and their fake concern about the deficit is so widespread that a term has been coined to describe them:

How to Spot a Deficit Peacock

Of note-Obama's discretionary spending freeze helps, but it is his focus on health care that will put the biggest dent in the deficit by cutting the cost of entitlements. The Republicans are lockstep opposing what will put the biggest dent in our deficit.
 
I don't know what to think about this situation.

But is his point -- "?If we can?t find $10 billion to pay for it, we?re not going to pay for anything,? Mr. Bunning said on the floor on Monday." -- automatically invalid just because he's a Republican?

Do you remember him making such statements when he voted for all the wild, irresponsible spending under Bush? No? Yeah, neither do the rest of us.
 
I guess this means that insipid one month extension of the COBRA subsidy will go through.

It's not the subsidy I object to, it's the idiocy of extending it for one more month when it will likely be extended yet again. It's an administrative pain in the giant ass for employers, with all the notifications and retroactive finagaling we have to do. (I know, I know - boo hoo hoo, poor employers.)

And by the by, it annoys me to no end to see the headlines about how ending the subsidy will "impact millions." Well no shit, Sherlock. People had to pay full price for COBRA before, they'll have to eventually do it again. You can't keep extending it indefinitely. Although I'm sure they will anyway. :angry:

/employee benefits administration hat off, regular hat back on
 
I don't know what to think about this situation.

But is his point -- "?If we can?t find $10 billion to pay for it, we?re not going to pay for anything,? Mr. Bunning said on the floor on Monday." -- automatically invalid just because he's a Republican?

No, it's invalid because he isn't consistent, except for when it comes to being an asshole. Seriously, look at his record.
 
I guess this means that insipid one month extension of the COBRA subsidy will go through.

It's not the subsidy I object to, it's the idiocy of extending it for one more month when it will likely be extended yet again. It's an administrative pain in the giant ass for employers, with all the notifications and retroactive finagaling we have to do. (I know, I know - boo hoo hoo, poor employers.)

And by the by, it annoys me to no end to see the headlines about how ending the subsidy will "impact millions." Well no shit, Sherlock. People had to pay full price for COBRA before, they'll have to eventually do it again. You can't keep extending it indefinitely. Although I'm sure they will anyway. :angry:

/employee benefits administration hat off, regular hat back on

This will be phased out with the rest of the stimulus provisions at the end of 2010. The extend indefinitely part was what Congress was worried about when they wrote the bill, that is why they made Dec 2010 clear. If they are going to extend indefinitely, it will require a whole new legislative document, not procedural amendments. We obviously will not be able to keep doing this as the economy recovers, we need to get whiplash turning from stimulating the economy to reducing the deficit. That need has been clear for quite some time.

All of the stimulus provisions, one of which was COBRA subsidies, were explicitly written to be phased out by the end of 2010. COBRA subsidies were originally slated to end in November 2009(9 months after enactment). The were things that ended earlier and have been extended to the present, but the whole deal was to end no later than Dec 31, 2010.

Either way, with the economy recovering and unemployment falling, it should not be an issue too much longer!

Hang in there, I am sure it is tedious, pain in the ass work!:wave:
 

Hey, listen, Harry and Louise can afford to go without unemployment benefits(that they paid for through their taxes by working the required amount of hours) and COBRA coverage, even though they have a kid with asthma and a big home heating bill. We know for sure, however, that Jim Bunning CANNOT AFFORD TO MISS ANOTHER KENTUCKY BASKETBALL GAME. That was the tragedy of all tragedies in this recession, Bunning missed some ball games because he chose to be a complete asshole for 10 days.
 
Hey, listen, Harry and Louise can afford to go without unemployment benefits(that they paid for through their taxes by working the required amount of hours) and COBRA coverage, even though they have a kid with asthma and a big home heating bill. We know for sure, however, that Jim Bunning CANNOT AFFORD TO MISS ANOTHER KENTUCKY BASKETBALL GAME. That was the tragedy of all tragedies in this recession, Bunning missed some ball games because he chose to be a complete asshole for 10 days.
But it was South Carolina, man. South Carolina! It was their last chance to get revenge on them! Come on!
 
Hero, if for no other reason than he's pissing off all the right people.

All the right people would be "everyone"? I have no problem pissing people off, but at least have a fucking point.

Now, to the point, what's one good reason why the bill can't be paid for from the 4 or 5 hundred billion dollars worth of unspent stimulus money?

They're saving that for the bankers. Just in case.


Also, can we change the poll, please? Calling Bunning an asshole is an insult to assholes. Can we make that option read "Douche Bag" cause it's more appropriate. Maybe even "Dick". "Asshole" doesn't apply to him. Assholes generally have a point.
 
Bunning is an obstructionist jerk. Hero? Hardly. Zero is more like it.

He had no problem voting for extension of benefits in 2003 and then put out a press release about how 'great it was for him to be able to help the American people in a tough time'.

Even many in his party are keeping their distance.

Good thing he's not running again.

Guess he wants to guarantee that he's remembered for something; even if that is being remembered for all the wrong reasons.

I'm sure if he raised his shirt-sleeve, he must have a tattoo that says Massengill, as he is assuredly a douche.
 
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