Sen. George LeMieux, who led the pre-election opposition to extending unemployment benefits, has done an about-face before Christmas. Now he's blaming Democrats for failing to deliver.
The outgoing Florida Republican earned headlines and a political backlash in late October when he helped kill Democrats' attempt to continue jobless benefits beyond 99 weeks. Speaking on the Senate floor at the time, he called the extension fiscally irresponsible.
This month, LeMieux is ready to deal on the same 10-week package, which carries an estimated price tag of $56 billion.
Congress should extend emergency benefits to those who cant find work and we should pay for that assistance," the lame-duck senator declared last week.
What changed LeMieux's mind? Nothing, says spokesman Ken Lundberg.
"He's consistently supported extending benefits as long as they're paid for without adding to the national debt," Lundberg told Sunshine State News via e-mail.
The senator, who previously objected that there was no funding source for an extension, declares that the money is now there for the spending. He has signed on to a proposal from Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., that would continue jobless benefits to 1 million long-term unemployed Americans.
LeMieux says the aid package would be paid for by unspent federal funds to be determined by the Office of Management and Budget.
"Democrats have objected to this, but the senator is hopeful they drop their opposition and support the extension," Lundberg said.
In a rhetorical twist that skirts the underlying fiscal issues and undermines his previous conservative talking points, LeMieux said:
"On Nov. 2, the American people spoke loud and clear. They elected new leaders to represent them in Congress with two very pressing issues at hand. Those two issues are job-creation and out-of-control government spending.
Our government is putting this country on the brink of financial disaster. Floridians are concerned for the future of our country, the future of their children and grandchildren. We have got to focus on getting Americans back to work and making the tough choices about spending so we can begin to pay off our continually mounting debt.
LeMieux's professed concern over deficit spending stoked his original argument against the unprecedented benefits extension to 105 weeks. Critics of the GOP plan wonder how and where the federal government, with a $1.4 trillion deficit, could have "unspent funds" lying around.
More inexplicably, LeMieux appears to loosely equate jobless benefits with "getting Americans back to work."
Capitol Hill observers say LeMieux and his fellow Senate Republicans are trying to use the benefits extension as a bargaining chip to gain Democrats' support for a full extension of the Bush tax rates, which are set to expire Dec. 31. The trade-off may not even be necessary, since the Obama administration is reportedly on the verge of conceding to the GOP on taxes.
Meantime, some Democratic and Republican lawmakers have begun touting a Department of Labor report, which claims that for every dollar spent on unemployment, $2 are reinvested in the economy.
Economists question that 2-for-1 yield, noting that jobless payouts tend to be used for basic expenses, like utility bills, not to generate wealth or new job opportunities.
Skeptics facetiously argue that if there truly were a doubling of value, then the federal government should increase the benefits and extend them permanently to gain a real financial windfall.
The cost of the jobless extension roughly equals the amount that President Barack Obama expects to save from his proposed cost-of-living freeze on federal workers. The difference is that the unemployment package lasts just 10 weeks while the savings from the freeze would accrue over 10 years.
U.S. Rep. Bill Posey, R-Rockledge, says he supports an extension of unemployment benefits, provided there is a provision to pay for them.
Posey added: "The uptick in unemployment last week to 9.8 percent underscores both the failures of Washington-driven 'stimulus' plans and the need for Washington to focus on putting policies in place that create a more competitive environment for businesses."
"If Washington continues to go down the path of command and control of the economy, it needs to find a way to pay for it," Posey spokesman George Cecala said.
U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, said through a spokesman that he could not comment until the details of the proposed unemployment-benefit extension are made public.
Even tea partiers are conflicted on the issue.
"The tea party in me says 'no' to extending unemployment, but the political reality of getting the Bush tax cuts extended means some kind of compromise," said Phil Russo of the Orlando Tea Party.
"Ideally we would not extend unemployment and we would make the Bush tax cuts permanent. With the Democrats in control of the lame-duck session, I just don't know if that is possible."
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Contact Kenric Ward at kward@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 801-5341.
