Kerry No Show for Vote Extending Federal Unemployment Benefits

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Kerry a no-show when it counts
By Boston Herald editorial staff
Wednesday, May 12, 2004

We never thought we'd be grateful to have Sen. John Kerry too busy on the campaign trail to tend to his day job. But there's a first for everything.

A Democratic election-year favorite - extending federal unemployment benefits for six months - went down the drain yesterday by one vote.

And guess who wasn't in the Senate chamber to put the measure over the top?

Proponents needed 60 senators to support the procedural move to get the extension considered. It failed 59-40.

That's a very good thing. The unemployment rate dropped to 5.6 percent last month. Employers added nearly 300,000 new jobs. Almost 900,000 new jobs have been created so far this year. This is no time to discourage those on the unemployment rolls from looking for work.

The problem for John Kerry is you sure can't run against President Bush on the ``jobless recovery'' issue when the recovery is no longer jobless. And it's even harder to castigate Bush and the Republican Congress for blocking benefits for the unemployed when you're a no-show.

That didn't stop Kerry from trying, again, to have it both ways.

Kerry spokesman David Wade said, ``John Kerry has fought again and again to extend unemployment benefits for workers left behind in the Bush economy.

``The reason we haven't succeeded is because George Bush opposes extending unemployment insurance, and so do his allies in the Republican House of Representatives and 39 Republican senators,'' Wade added.

Come again? The Bush campaign debate prepsters couldn't have asked for a better comeback when Kerry starts pontificating about Bush being anti-worker. At least the president shows up for work.

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LI...n=2&vote=00088

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