A dissenting voice, on the budget compromise. The only member of the state’s House delegation to vote against a bipartisan budget deal that would keep the government open into 2015 did so because it failed to extend unemployment benefits.
“We still have 11.5 million people unemployed and millions more underemployed,” said Madison Democrat, Representative Mark Pocan on the deal brokered by his colleague, Janesville Republican Paul Ryan and Senator Patty Murray. “While we’re still in this situation, to not extend benefits so that they can pay rent and pay for groceries is wrongheaded.”
The budget deal does not include an extension of expiring unemployment benefits, and it doesn’t look as though Republicans will agree to an extension anytime soon.
“It’s not a bid deal. It’s a very small deal that still keeps in place the sequester, provides minimal relief, doesn’t address anything about jobs or the economy,” said Pocan. “It really doesn’t do a whole lot. I think a lot of people are patting themselves on the back because we didn’t shoot ourselves in the foot.”
