The economic collapse and ensuing high unemployment rates have reminded us that no one is immune to the vagaries of the 21st century economy. While there has been significant disagreement about how to jumpstart the economy, motivated as often as not by partisanship, most people in Congress understand that, at least in the short-term, basic human decency demands that our social safety net remain accessible to the millions enduring hardship because of the extended recession. For one Senator, though, it is simply too expensive to provide even modest support to those among us who are have been hit hardest.
The Senate will certainly find a way to overcome Senator Bunning’s intransigence, but restarting unemployment support for people who temporarily lost access to it will be expensive and time-consuming. Whatever Senator Bunning believes he will have accomplished with his obstructionism, let’s hope it was worth the cost, both in dollars and in personal suffering.
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