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Wanted: One GOP Vote for Unemployment Benefits

Failure to extend unemployment benefits is a problem created by both the GOP and the democratic Congress, Laura Flanders and Tim Carney explain on The Ed Show, guest hosted by Christopher Hayes

Press Room

July 1, 2010

The Nation‘s Washington Editor Chris Hayes continued his week of guest-hosting The Ed Show last night, bringing on GritTV’s Laura Flanders and Obamanomics author Tim Carney to discuss the GOP’s continued reluctance to extend unemployment benefits. "Even from a very kind of bedrock libertarian perspective," Hayes asks, "do you really think the people who have exceeded the 99 weeks are doing it because of misaligned incentives as opposed to an economy that‘s just thrown fallen through the floor?"

It’s not just the GOP, Flanders and Carney say. It’s also Nancy Pelosi and the democratic Congress who overpromised funding. "Nancy Pelosi kind of backed herself into a corner," Flanders says. "What we really need is a government job creation scheme. Government jobs. Rooseveltian kind of plan. With that off the table, they‘re in the situation of hoping that some GOPer will wise up."

—Carrie Battan

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