Early in the week the Senate tried taking up Rep. Jim McDermott's rather urgent bill, H.R. 3548 , which would extend unemployment insurance to the hundreds of thousands of American workers for whom it has expired-- the banksters having eaten up all the TARP money in cartel-like mergers and bonuses for their top executives without having loosened up on credit for job-creating businesses. Money for working people? You can imagine what happened, of course. The Republicans went into obstruction mode and began their faux filibuster. Harry Reid called for a cloture vote on Wednesday and it passed 87-13 , every Democrat and most of the Republicans slapping down the worst of the anti-working family fanatics:John Barrasso (R-WY) Kit Bond (R-MO)Jim Bunning (R-KY)(R-OK)John Cornyn (R-TX)(R-SC)Mike Enzi (R-WY)Lindsey Graham (R-SC)Orrin Hatch (R-UT)Jim Inhofe (R-OK)Mike Johanns (R-NE)Jeff Sessions (KKK-AL)(R-LA)The miscreants whose names are bolded are running for re-election next year.With the filibuster out of the way, next week the Senate will be taking up the actual bill. Reid has added an extension and expansion of a tax credit for first-time homebuyers to the final bill which has one more procedural hurdle to pass on Monday before it can be voted on later in the week. The bipartisan deal Reid agreed to Thursday extends the homebuyer tax credit for first-time homebuyers, scheduled to expire Nov. 30, to people who sign sales contracts by April 30, 2010, and close within 60 days. The refunds would work for their 2009 returns. The amendment also adds a $6,500 credit for existing homeowners, who have lived in their current homes for 5 consecutive years earn less than $125,000 ($225,000 for married couples), although homes sold for more than $800,000 would not be eligible for the credit.This seems to complement a new Obama proposal announced yesterday for a $5 billion tax credit expansion. According to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner this is supposes to help distressed communities across the country and he says the tax credits "have proven to be remarkably effective job creators, engines of economic development. To date over $14 billion of private sector capital has been invested in an estimated 2,000 businesses, supporting roughly 200,000 jobs."

Labels: Dick Durbin, obstructionist Republicans, unemployment