The other day the hononorable gentleman from Kentucky chose to get religion and decided to block a one month extension of unemployment benefits and funded road projects because he didn't know where the US$10 billion was going to come from. Now there is newly passed legislation in the US known as PAYGO which was intended to stop Congress from passing legislation for which they couldn't pay.
Now I am all for controlling spending and I don't like running up large deficits any more than the next person. Still it was interesting (if not perverted) that Senator Bunning chose to draw a line in the sand to prevent the payment of unemployment benefits when we have 10% unemployment-a lot of whom are lower skilled workers-and block road projects-the type of employment many of the unemployed could do.
It is true that Senator Bunning did complain that the vote was making him late for a basketball game, and it is also true that Senator Bunnings response to questions on his motives was to salute the reporters with his middle finger.
But my real concern is why would Senator Bunning choose this bit of legislation to get tough on? Maybe he thinks with 10% unemployment unemployment payments only encourage shiftless Americans to remain unemployed. Or perhaps there are no roads that require repair in that paragon of virtue and extravagance the sovereign state of Kentucky.
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