Perriello blasts Senate on unemployment benefits
Edited by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
Fifth District Congressman Tom Perriello today released a statement blasting the U.S. Senate for playing politics with unemployment benefits and Medicare payments to doctors.
“The elites in the Senate may have forgotten what it’s like on Main Street for families still struggling in this recession,” Perriello said in the statement. “Hardworking Virginians who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own have been subject to the game-playing and political posturing of the Senate for too long. People depend on these benefits to put food on the table and keep a roof over their head while they search for new work. It’s unconscionable that the Senate continues to play politics with unemployment benefits and Medicare payments while the American people need action.”
This week, thousands of unemployed Virginians will receive a notice from the Virginia Employment Commission indicating benefits are being cut off due to the Senate’s inaction. And Virginia doctors who see Medicare patients have been notified that their reimbursements will decrease by 21% because of the Senate’s failure to pass a long-term fix to the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula.
Rep. Perriello has voted to extend unemployment benefits and to prevent the 21 percent cut in Medicare payments. For months, the Senate has passed a series of temporary extensions of unemployment benefits but only at the last minute when they expire and leave hundreds of thousands of Americans without any help. If the Senate continues to stall, 23,500 Virginians will lose their unemployment benefits.
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WE ARE IN ALABAMA.JOBS ARE HARD TO FIND.CHRIS WHEN BACK TO SCHOOL TO BETTER HIS CHANCES AT A JOB.NOW A FULL TIME STUDENT.WITH A 4.0 AVERAGE.WHILE BETH IS DISABLED AND WAS DRAWING SSI.WHEN CHRIS BECAME UNEMPLOYED BETHS SSI WAS CANCELLED.THEY SAID UNEMPLOYMENT WAS DIFFERENT FROM REGULAR INCOME.NOW IS THE TIME WHEN I (BETH) NEED IT MOST.NOW DUE TO CONGRESS NOT PASSING THE EXTENTION BILL WE HAVE NO INCOME.NOW WAY TO BUY GAS FOR CHRIS TO GO TO SCHOOL.NO MONEY FOR RENT OR UTILITIES OR FOOD.NO MONEY TO PAY CAR INSURANCE WHICH IS REQUIRED BY LAW.NO MONEY TO BUY A TENT TO LIVE IN DUE TO WE MAYBE EVICTED WHEN OUR RENT IS NOT PAID.WE DON’T ASK FOR MUCH BUT WE NEED HELP..OR WE WILL STARVE DO YOU CARE ABOUT THE PEOPLE?OR DO YOU THINK THIS IS A WAY TO THIN OUT THE UNITED STATES..AS YOU DID BY SENDING OUR BOYS AND GIRLS TO FIGHT A WAR THAT SHOULD BE OVER BY NOW.AND LOOK AT ALL THE MONEY IRAQ HAS OF OURS.WE THINK OUR CONGRESS WHO VOTES OUT THIS BILL SHOULD LOSE THEIR PAY FOR AS LONG AS WE HAVE TO DO WITH OUT.BETTER YET CLEAN HOUSE AND GET A NEW STAFF IN OUR WHITE HOUSE.
Thank you Tom Perriello. At least there’s one willing to stand up next to the many egg heads who are so far out of touch with what people like myself are going through.
I wake up everyday telling myself how bad this sucks not having a job. 250 jobs applied to yet I still have not caught a break and make no mistake about it most of us need one.
I hope soon Joe Lieberman and max Baucus join this ever growing line of uneployed. I only hope the money truly runs out when they need it.
Jack
Perriello misses the point–again! The issue is trillions of dollars of growing debt due to irresponsible Democrat spending that isn’t working to create jobs. The responsible Senators simply want the extended benefits to be paid for rather than just adding more to the debt we will have to pay. But Perriello’s pals can’t seem to find any place to cut spending in a trillion-dollar budget… oops, that’s right, they aren’t even going to come up with a budget this year! Perriello and the Democrats are fiscally IRRESPONSIBLE!
i hear the republicans are attending a 1,000 a plate fund raiser for bp. tonight my family will struggle to eat. try getting a new job when your over 50 with health issues. i have a 300.00 power bill that came today a unemployment check would keep the power on. thanks for what help you have given.
Thanks Tom Perriello for speaking your mind. We need our benefits. We are hard working people who would rather be working. If they don’t pass this bill we are going to have to go to the welfare lines. Something we don’t want to do. We got these benefits because we were working and we don’t want hand a out. Please Congress do the right thing. God Bless.
It’s is completely unconscionable. Those effected will now be forced to apply for Medicaid and Public Assistance benefits to survivie while they continue to look for work. Everyone knows the jobs are not there. So why the delay in passing this? POLITICS as usual. Those that voted against passage of the extension are just playing games with the vulnerable, who they decided can’t help them get elected. Here is an economics lesson the money to house, feed and cloth these Americans will come from somewhere. Delaying any further just causes innocent people greater stress while shifting the disbursement of funds to another federal source– Welfare. You guys are so intellectual, thanks for educating us all.
I am thinking that I need my medicine to live. My unemployment has run out and noone cares.Senate is worrying about vacation when some of us are worrying about our next meal. It is not right that we Americans cannot get the help we need. I hve worked for over 25 years of my life and now that I am unemployed it like the senate has a def ear. Can you imagine how it feel to have a house to pay for and no money,lightbill to pay and no money, medicine to buy and no money. Put yourself in our shoes.
Could it be that some of the concern Mr. Perriello is showing in regards to unemployment benefits is a harbinger for his own future after November’s election? I would say Sen. Webb should get his “life after Washington” affairs in order as his day of reckoning will come in 2012.
Pat “We need our benefits”, what makes them yours? I can’t find any passage in the Code of Virginia that refers to ownership of unemployment benefits. I am unemployed (at no fault of my own) I might add, I have had to utilize unemployment insurance, take low wage jobs and finally cash in my retirement. It would be irresponsible for me to set on my butt and just pick up a check from the VEC for putting in two job searches a week. I understand these benefits are temporary and most certainly do not belong to me.