Jobless stew as pols play blame game

Politicians are pointing the finger of blame at each other as thousands of North Shore residents brace themselves for the possible loss of their unemployment benefits this holiday season.Legislation to pay for extended unemployment benefits – up to 99 weeks – through Feb. 28 failed to win support in the U.S. Senate Tuesday, meaning an estimated 60,000 unemployed workers in the state could lose benefits during the holiday season.U.S. Rep. John Tierney, D-Salem, railed against the Republicans in the Senate.”I’m absolutely outraged there are some down here who won’t extend unemployment benefits for people out of work for an extended period of time,” Tierney said. “It is deeply disappointing that Republicans continue to block vital support for our middle-class families. It is a moral issue. People need to be able to sustain themselves.”Tierney said many unemployed workers use the unemployment benefits as a lifeline to meet their basic needs.”It is particularly astounding that most of those opposing this relief are the same people who are promoting an extension of hundreds of billions of dollars of Bush tax cuts for those earning in the top 1 or 2 percent income level in this country,” Tierney said of Republicans in Congress.Still, Tierney said he expects the unemployment benefits extension to be discussed before the holiday recess.”I think we’ll pass it in the House: the problem of course is in the Senate,” Tierney said in a statement. “The Republicans there are holding this hostage. That has been the sad story of this session. The Republicans are banding together and trying to starve every piece of legislation.”Alison Harris, spokesman for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development, said people receiving unemployment benefits should continue filing their weekly claims.”Like almost all states, we encourage claimants to continue to file their weekly claims because should a new law be enacted extending the expiration dates retroactive to Nov. 30, we will be able to more seamlessly process claimants’ weekly benefits,” she said.Repeated calls to U.S. Sen. Scott Brown’s office were not returned today.But he posted a video on YouTube saying he is working to craft a compromise to get the extended unemployment benefits passed.Brown’s plan calls for requiring the Office of Management and Budget to find money from already approved appropriations to pay for extension of emergency benefits.”The decision is not whether we should extend the benefits, it is how should we pay for them,” Brown said in the video. “Some of my colleagues want to pay for unemployment benefits by raising taxes or adding to the national debt. I disagree. There is a better way.”Repeated calls to Gov. Deval Patrick’s office were not returned.U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., also blamed the Republicans for the failure in the Senate to pay for the extended benefits.”It’s inexcusable to kill unemployment benefits for people who have been working their whole lives until the economy hit the skids,” he said in a statement. “Families across our state have already lost their jobs, their savings, and even the benefits that keep their kids safe while parents are looking for work. When it looked like things couldn’t get worse, filibusters, delay, and gamesmanship cut off the lifeline that helps families put food on the table or see a doctor, all while the Republican caucus says we better find time to extend tax cuts for multimillionaires. Politics has got to do better than this.”