Responding to good news about the economy last week, influential conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer declared conservatives had won the debate over long-term unemployment insurance.
Congressional Republicans have stifled opportunities to renew the benefits, which expired in December. On Fox News’ “Special Report,” Krauthammer said he thinks it’s been the right call.
The past six months saw “the largest six-month decline in the length of unemployment ever measured,” he said. “The debate on that extension is over, and the conservatives were right.”
A spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), whose refusal to entertain a Senate-passed bill has prevented Democrats from reviving the benefits, echoed the sentiment shortly after the Labor Department announced the unemployment rate fell to 6.1 percent in June.
“More unemployment checks won’t create less unemployment,” Boehner spokesman Matt Wolking wrote on Thursday. “In fact, the evidence suggests they create more.”
Rep. Sandy Levin (D-Mich.), House Democrats’ point man on unemployment insurance, said job growth has prevailed in spite of — not because of — Republicans blocking the benefits. The Congressional Budget Office has long said extended benefits boost the economy by increasing consumer spending.
“Our economy would be much better off had Republicans not blocked the program’s extension, thereby pulling billions of dollars out of the economy and cutting off vital benefits to millions of Americans,” Levin said in an emailed statement. “Long-term unemployment remains a serious problem for millions of Americans and the overall economy, more so because of the Republican inaction.”
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Story: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/07/unemployment-extension_n_5564019.html